A Complete 180
by Dani Navy
Summary: Bella moves to Forks, hoping to get through the little time she has. She meets Edward, quickly realizing they are more alike than different. Neither knows the other is holding a terrible secret. BxB, Vampire/Human, quick paced & complete.
1. Just Living

**Chapter 1: Just Living**

Time seemed to move a bit slower in the small, rainy town of Forks, Washington. It's green overgrowth made up for it's population undergrowth, and it's easy going, rustic living made it quite a popular town for travelers to pass through. Site seers only stopped in for the tiny diners, the use of the old laundry mat, and to fill their tanks at the pumps- which were of course self serve. Forks unfortunately didn't get much attention on a map, especially with its weather factored in. But that didn't bother the few residents, most of whom enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere without high-speed internet, wireless gadgets, and self cleaning dishwashers.

It wasn't the lack of technology that made the most recent residents choose Forks as their new living destination. It was what most folks thought as its drawbacks- the sleet, the rain, the overcast- that made this sunless town sound so attractive.

Speaking of attractive, these pure white people were. Each one had the same white skin, gold eyes, and strange shadows under them. Every member looked extremely the same, yet was unique in their on subtle ways. Pretending to be a normal family was easy; only a few humans every generation came close to figuring out this gorgeous family.

With their edgy looks, and heart stopping faces, it gave them an unconscious authority that was never questioned, or maybe it was the fact that the whole lot were vampires, and humans had natural instincts to stay away.

The vampire family were very content with their lives. Each member obeyed their vegetarian diet, and mastered the art of "acting human"- making unnecessary movements, moving in what seemed like slow motion, and attending work or school. This routine was easy enough, and most of the members found it manageable. Of course, there seems to be a black sheep in every family- even a vampire one.

The second born to the family, a tall, slightly muscular boy, with strange bronze hair, and a death stare that did just that, wasn't to happy about his life. In fact, he absolutely hated it. This was quite ironic, seeing how he had all eternity to do so. Edward Cullen was the depressed boy's name. He had been saved from the Influenza, nearly a century ago, by his family leader, Carlisle. But as Edward saw it, a slow and painful death would have been more pleasant than living as a monster. Edward kept thoughts like this to himself of course. As miserable a vampire he was, he would never intentionally try to hurt Carlisle's feelings.

Each member of the family, not being dumb, could clearly tell that Edward had never taken to being a vampire. They tried everything they could think of to show him the positive side, but Edward had already been blinded by the downsides. As one last stitch of effort, the family left their Alaskan home, hoping a change in scenery would lift the depressed boy's spirits. But within only one week of living in the alien town, the transfer to Forks was already a failure of a move. With that, the family has nothing left to do for him, but watch him sink deeper and deeper into himself.

Little did they know, the answer to their silent prayers was angrily boarding a plane, headed straight in their direction.

*******


	2. Depressing Just Got More Depressing

**Chapter 2: Depressing Just Got More Depressing.**

Bella Swan's 17 years and 'plain Jane' looks gave her, what she called, a "dumbass" appearance. Her long, pin straight hair, covered her clear-of-makeup face, and laid on top of a boring blouse, that perfectly matched her fitted jeans. She instantly regretted wearing such constricting clothes when she boarded the plane, and took a glance around at all the sweat pant/loafer/Ugg wearing passengers. She cursed under her breath as she walked down the aisle, noticing for the first time the smiles tossed towards her from friendly looking passengers. She tried to give one back to the overly happy people, but every ounce of fakeness that she usually reserved for people of this sort had already been drained from her. Bella simply walked on, and found her seat among the uncrowded plane. She took the window seat, after putting away her carry on, knowing not a soul would confront a little lost girl like her, sitting in the wrong seat. Or maybe she just knew the flight to Forks wasn't a popular one.

A woman in a blue jumpsuit came hurrying down the aisle, quickly asking passengers if they needed anything, to "just holler". The short flight attendant barely paid any attention to their nods back as she moved onto the next. That is until she spotted Bella alone by the window seat. Instantly the lady felt bad for the lonely looking girl, so she walked up to her seat, and leaned casually on the aisle seat.

"Hello there dear. I'm Susan, your flight attendant today. If you have any questions or need anything at all, just holler my name love," Susan smiled.

Bella didn't say anything. Only a simple nod was given to the lady in blue.

Susan took it as the young girl being shy and scared to fly alone, so she gave her one last friendly smile, and left her to stare out the window.

Bella sank deeper into her seat, and cursed in her head, which was already very full of thoughts that she couldn't keep away. For starters, she hated the way the old, short flight attendant smiled at her apologetically, as Bella had translated it as the lady feeling sorry for her. The last thing Bella wanted from anyone was their pity. Every person in her life now pitied poor, defenceless Bella, and felt sorry for her too. Bella cringed when family and friends offered her support and told her help was always there. Was this supposed to make her feel better? It only made Bella feel even more like shit.

Bella shook her head to try and free herself from her depressing thoughts of what she was leaving, and tried to concentrate on what was to come. Who knows, maybe the plane would crash and burn before she had to step foot in Forks. Or at least she'd hopefully just turn over and die soon. With her bad luck, she'd probably live a full, dull life in Forks. Bella rolled her eyes at the sheer thought, and put in her ear phones to blast out her ridiculous thoughts of possibilities. Lucky for her she knew there wasn't a chance of coming out of Forks alive.

* * *

Charlie Swan, Bella's very strict father, gave a half ass smile to his daughter, who was more or less making her way down the stairs of the plane.

Outside, the air was humid, but the sky showed no possibilities of the sun ever existing. Bella looked up at the sky, ignoring her father's wave in her direction. Already, the gloomy weather was putting Bella into an even deeper form of depression. She slowly made her way towards him, half wanting to run off into foreign space, and not be re-acquainted with her usual summer vacation of a destination. But this time it wasn't vacation, and it wasn't for fun. Bella was forced to move here, her mother already giving up on Bella and her moodiness.

Charlie Swan knew what mood Bella was going to be in with her arrival. But he wasn't exactly expecting being ignored completely. Bella simply walked past him without any acknowledgement, and let herself into his very beat up police cruiser. Charlie sighed lowly to himself. He felt a sense of sadness creep up on him. He looked down at the ground, and began to think about what his little girl use to mean to him. Her smile, her strong spirit, and her sense of humour were all now distant memories of a girl he use to know. Bella Swan was a complete 180 of the girl he saw last summer. Her dimples were erased off her face, her laugh lines were now frown lines, and her skin looked nearly translucent- had she not been eating? Charlie shook his head to clear his thoughts. He only had so long with his baby girl, and already he was feeling sorry for the poor girl. He had promised Renee that Bella would enjoy herself for the remaining time with him, but looking at her now, he couldn't see any possible turn around for her spirit.

Bella honked the horn, and Charlie made his way into the driver side of the car. With a swift turn of the keys, the engine coughed, but did finally start. The oil change yesterday did the cruiser some good. Charlie smiled to himself, put the car in gear, and peeled out of the parking lot. It was too bad a teenager's attitude wasn't as easily retuned as a car engine.

*******


	3. Enemies

**Chapter 3: Enemies**

Edward watched from the window as his family jumped into their lavish cars, which were headed for Alaska. Only Alice didn't depart as easily as the rest. She tossed Edward a pleading sign with her hands, which Edward just turned and ignored. He walked away from the window, and found a place to sit in front of the TV. Images of eggs being scrambled, and toast being burnt flew across the Food Network channel, and did nothing to help his self loathing. Edward desperately wanted a diet like that, but knew human food could never satisfy him. His thirst for blood disgusted him, and made him feel even more like a monster each and every passing day.

Maybe he should have gone to Alaska with his family. It couldn't hurt to show his family that he wanted to try and have fun. But no, he knew that was a lie, and seeing friends and family did nothing for him. He wanted nothing more than to be alone, and live with the knowledge that every day alive was a day that shouldn't naturally occur. Not in a normal world it should anyway.

Edward sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose. The past couple days had been a train wreck with his family. Actually, just Alice. She was convinced that his future was going to take a different, brighter turn, and that Alaska was probably the reason for this. But Edward wasn't having any of Alice's insights to the future make him change his mind on a trip with the family. Alice's visions for the future were always off, and he had had it for her premonitions of happiness for him, if he would only do this, or that. Alice was a difficult case. He couldn't say he hated her, but her happiness, and eagerness made him feel worse about himself, so he didn't exactly enjoy being near her.

Outside, cars started, and finally sped off into the distance. Edward was finally alone for the weekend, and he knew exactly the destination he would go first. The only spot in Forks he had come to like.

* * *

Bella expected sunshine to greet her cranky self on her first morning in Forks. But as she drew back the curtains to the window in her cramped bedroom, the same gloomy skies from the day before smiled back at her. She didn't return the favour though. Instead she groaned, fell back onto her bed, and covered her face with her arm. Her pity party was just getting started, but it ended right away with a low knock on the door. The person behind it didn't wait for an answer, and walked right into the party.

"Morning Bella. How was your first night here?" Charlie leaned casually on the doorframe, and Bella didn't even remove her arm from over her face when she answered "fine" to him. "Well good. I just thought I'd tell you that I'm going out hunting with a few friends. We were going to try fishing, but the water's looking a bit too choppy today".

Bella removed her arm from her face, and sat up on her bed.

"Sounds lovely dad. Maybe I'll take the boat out on our lake then, just like I use to." She gave an evil looking smile, which Charlie wasn't having.

"Don't start, Bella. Let's have a good time while your-" Bella cut him off.

"While I'm what, Charlie?" she crossed her arms, waiting for his answer. She knew the answer he was going to say, but he back pedalled to avoid it.

"While you're visiting" he said simply. Bella stood up off her bed and glared at him.

"Yeah, visiting? You wish" she said. He ignored her comment, which Renee told him to do instead of yelling at her like he normally did. This surprised Bella, but she didn't say anything.

"You're not taking the boat out on the lake. The weather is getting bad. We might not even end up hunting at all because of it. It looks like a storm is rolling in, and I will not have my daughter out in the middle of it. Try and stay inside if it starts to gets any worse looking outside, or maybe call up a friend–" Charlie couldn't finish. Bella had already cut him off with her smartass comment.

"Oh yes Charlie, I'll just call up one of those friends of mine that I keep in my back pocket. How about you quit being lame, leave me alone, and exit the house." She walked passed him, and into the bathroom that was conveniently placed across the hall from her bedroom. She heard him say something about being home late, but like usual, she ignored most of the things coming out of Chief Swan's mouth.

Bella looked into the "garage-sale" mirror, and stared into her own dark eyes. She liked her eyes, as most people should. They were mysterious, and held secrets from the outside world- or at least looked that way. Her eyes almost looked like they were aged, or belonged on someone who had been through a lot. But they were hers, and she has been though a lot in the last couple months. Finding out the worst possible news would put a withered look to anyone.

She finally looked away from the mirror, and glanced up at the skylight in the cramped bathroom. Outside the clouds were doing dark, circular motions. Obviously, something heavy was going to be coming down.

Bella smiled to herself. She already knew her plans for the first Saturday in Forks, and they were going to be big. There was no use wasting her time obeying her father, when she could be out, finally living her life for herself. In Forks, there were no friends to be controlled by, or people to look good for. One thing and one thing only mattered to Bella now. Her last months, weeks, days, hours, seconds, or whatever, on this earth were going be lived _her_ way. And that was that.

* * *

After what seemed like over an hour of ploughing though wave after wave, Bella finally saw her destination. Off in the distance, her hideaway was sitting just how she remembered it. Its rocky cove, and old tire swing looked better than ever, and offered Bella a sense of ease to know that at least one thing in her life was perfect. Bella looked up into the dark sky, and felt the raindrops lightly hit her face. She regretted wearing just a bikini, but how could she not swim when she was at the cove? She turned up the speed on the little motor to her dad's shitty boat, hoping to get to her cove before it really started coming down. That probably wasn't going to happen though, because just as she sped up, the motor coughed, and completely died. Bella swore loudly, threw back her head, and covered her face with her hands. Why did her life suck so badly?

* * *

Edward knew the weather wasn't going to be great. But there wasn't a day that had passed that he didn't visit the little cove on the lake. He actually felt not as depressed when he sat on the rocks, and thought about being human and actually enjoying a place like this in the summer. Today, the cove was just how he had left it. The tire swing was swaying from the wind, and the huge rocks on the waters edge were still there to sit on. But something was off. Maybe it was the rain coming down hard, or the waves lapping over the rocks, or maybe it was the stranded girl in the boat, rowing herself towards him.

His vision wasn't lying to him. About 15 yards out, a struggling teenage girl was rowing a beat up boat, and not doing a very good job of it. He had never seen the girl before. But it was probably just a girl from school; he just didn't recognize her completely soaked, and wearing next to nothing. He sat down on a big rock, half hidden by a tree, and watched the girl come onto shore.

"Jesus Christ! What the fuck are you trying to do to me!" the girl yelled into the sky. She chucked the ores back into the boat, and quickly grabbed onto a rock to keep the boat steady. She carefully jumped out, and tied the boat to a branch that was poking out from a tree. After a few more profanities later, she then just stood still, looking out into the lake that she had just crossed.

Edward couldn't believe she had just paddled here, through a storm, in the middle of nowhere.

Out of nowhere, a crashing boom broke through the pounding of the rain, causing the girl to flinch. Right after, a cracking of lightening flew across the sky. It was in fact a storm.

"Well fuck me," the girl sighed. She had a dirty mouth on her, which he didn't hear from any of the girls from around here. Edward had never seen this clueless girl before. He didn't know where she came from, or why she was out here. And it was probably too late to pop out from behind her to introduce himself. Not that he really wanted to.

Instead he watched the girl try and reach for the tire swing, which was too far out on the tree branch for her to grab. He smiled at her effort, waiting for her to give up, but he didn't know that this girl was Bella Swan, and Bella Swan was feeling determined today.

Bella couldn't reach the tire swing to save her life, and knew what she had to do; make a jump for it. She had done it several, no, hundreds of times, just never in the pouring rain, during a thunder storm.

From behind her, Edward's eyes widened. He couldn't believe that the girl was going to jump for it, and actually risk missing and land in a swarm of waves that could keep her under water. He had to speak up. He couldn't imagine this fragile looking girl, trying to swim though waves, and making it out alive.

Bella took a step back, and prepared herself for her wild jump. Hopefully she made it. The water today didn't look to pleasant to swim through. She just wanted to sway on the tire swing. She sighed, counted to three in her head, and started her jump- at the same time, a boy's voice came from behind her.

Edward was now watching the teenage girl's body fly though the air, and not coming close to the tire swing, and disappear into the dark water. Had he spoken up sooner, maybe she would have been mid air when she was startled by his presence, causing her to miss the tire swing. Edward was now standing on the edge of the rock the girl had just jumped off of, counting down the seconds until she reappeared. It took nearly fifteen seconds for the girl's head to pop up, and then to be covered again by waves. He hesitated on the rock, not knowing whether to jump in and help her, or keep his distance from the probably frightened girl. She surfaced again though, and this time stayed above the water. She was actually a pretty good swimmer, and managed to get back to the rock, which he was know franticly standing on.

"Well fuck dude, at least help me up," Bella yelled up at the teenager boy. The strange boy cocked an eyebrow at her, but finally did offer his hand to her, which she reached up for. The boy pulled her out like she weighed nothing at all, and let go of her hand when she regained her stability on the rock. Bella noticed the boy's hand was freezing, and thought maybe he had been outside for awhile. Bella looked up at the boys face, and noticed that he was pretty damn good looking, and also pretty damn white.

Edward leaned away from the girls gaze. She stopped staring, and moved to sit on a rock. He then noticed for the first time that she was shivering. That was her fault though, because you shouldn't go out in a rain storm in a bathing suit.

"So perv, why are you at my spot?" Bella looked up at him, and he met her gaze.

Edward chuckled at her rudeness. "My name is Edward, I am not a perv, and what do you mean _your_ spot?" he asked.

Bella laughed humourlessly, thinking quick on her feet. "Well I'm Stacy. And yes, it's _my_ spot. I put that tire swing up with my dad when I was little, I come here to swim every summer, and I carved _that_ into the tree," Bella pointed to the tree Edward had hidden behind before. They both looked at the four letter word, clearly printed on the tree's bough.

"Swan? You're the chief's daughter?" Edward asked. Bella ignored him.

"Doesn't matter whose daughter I am. I don't like you asking questions about me. I'm not going to answer them." Bella stood, and unknotted the rope that was holding the boat to the tree. She then took a leap, and landed in the center of the boat, causing it to jostle a bit.

"Well I've been coming here since this summer. I didn't bump into you, so you must be lying," Edward said, picking up a stone, and throwing it into the dark water.

"Yes, that's something I'd lie about. I actually don't come here ever, I just want you to think I'm cool, and have my own secret place. God, you're pathetic," Bella attached the ores to the sides of the boat, and began her struggle though the waves.

Edward rolled his eyes at the girl, who was actually pissing him off. He didn't like one thing about her, and didn't care anymore if she made it back to shore or not. He watched in amusement as she paddled her way through the waves, and even waved to the girl when she looked up in anger at him.

Bella could not believe the stupid boy was watching her struggle though the waves. He was an asshole, your typical small town, pretty boy. She didn't like him one bit, and managed to throw him the finger in between strokes. She let out a breath of relief when he turned and left through the woods. She prayed that she would never see him again, and that he fell a few times though the muddy forest.

*******


	4. The Wish

**Chapter 4: The Wish**

To make a short story even shorter, Bella was fucked.

Charlie came home early from his hunting trip, just in time to see Bella bailing out his broken down boat. He didn't hold back his anger from her this time. He couldn't forget his number one motto.

"You break the rules, you're in for it!" he yelled for the hundredth time to Bella's scared face.

Bella forgot how angry a person Charlie could be, and his yelling had caught her off guard. She just sat on the kitchen chair, completely soaked, with only a towel around her shoulders to keep her comfort. Bella didn't feel like fighting back. She was still angry about not getting to swim, and being ambushed by that annoying boy, who had given her a fake name. She was also especially angry at the fact that her father was angry. She thought he was supposed to take into account that she was living life before there was no living to be had.

Bella stared into space, watching dust particles spin, and when he finally asked her if she was "writing this down", she let her mouth slip.

"Fuck _off_," she said lowly.

Charlie glared at the frail looking girl, who sat still, also glaring back.

No words were exchanged between the two. But from the different shades of colors that swept across Charlie's face, Bella knew he was beyond livid. He was disappointed in her, enough to be speechless. He was literally boiling.

Bella was smart enough to keep the silence. She stood, turned her back to him, and resided to her room, where she knew she would be locked in forever. But instead of moping, and throwing herself on her bed like she normally did, she had a sudden adrenalin rush, like she could run a marathon.

Fighting with Charlie made her feel good. Speaking her mind brought a weight off her back. She was acting the way she wanted to act. And it felt great.

Downstairs, Charlie could hear his daughter's music being blasted at ear drum blowing volume. He didn't bother telling her to turn the racket down, he had already had quite the dispute with her, and of course, the game was on. This was lucky for Bella, because she was already out her window and lying on her roof, enjoying the sounds of night and Paramore blasted together.

Bella stared into the stars, and felt the adrenalin rush wear down. She felt a sense of sadness creep up on her that wasn't expected. She then made the same wish on every star in the sky, hoping one day for it to come true. This was a routine to her now.

But she knew deep down inside, wishing on stars was childish, and hoping for the inevitable was foolish. Instead of letting hope lift her spirits, Bella turned over onto her side, and held in the tears that she knew would be coming in a matter of seconds. Bella was good at hiding emotion, as she never let herself cry over herself. If only she knew that the answer to her silent wish was only a couple yards away.

Off high in a tree, sitting on a branch, Edward watched the girl. He studied her movements, and the way her body shook with sadness, but didn't let out any pain or anguish. He found her interesting, and like no one he had ever met. Looking at her, he knew this girl had something different about her, something she kept unknown from the world. This girl frustrated Edward. He hated her so much, but was drawn to her fragile state, and the way she didn't fear a conflict.

But Edward couldn't bother her again, he knew, because she hated him, and well, he didn't exactly like her too. So, instead of creeping up and surprising the young girl again, he left off into the forest, leaving her to her loneliness.

*******


	5. Of Course

**Chapter 5: Of Course**

The weekend had passed too quickly for Edward. The storm cleared over within a day, and Sunday was just another day of the week that held zero fun for him. Monday was surely going to be better. It wasn't sunny out, and the rain was holding off just fine. Maybe this day was going to be OK. Or maybe it was going to be just like every other day, and hold no significant value to his life.

Edward sighed. He let his thoughts wonder through the weekend events while he drove too fast to school. He didn't know what to think of this Bella Swan, or whatever her name was, and what her deal was.

He pressed down on the gas pedal harder, weaving around every bend in the road without a thought of how fast he was going.

That changed when a dirt bike pulled out from the woods in front of him, causing him to use his quick reflexes, and swerve out of the bike's way. Edward swore after barely missing the dumbass driver on a piece of shit crouch rocket. He blared his horn after the near accident to let the idiot know how careless and stupid he was driving. The small driver threw him a middle finger in response, obviously not caring that he could have just been killed.

Edward shook his head in disbelief, wanting to speed up and ram the shitty dirt bike to the ground. He held off though, and watched the skinny boy in the leather jacket and navy bike helmet speed up the road.

"Oh life, when will you start getting good?" Edward asked lowly to himself. He knew this was going to be the most exciting thing that was going to happen to him all week- which was quite pathetic.

Edward shook his head again, and turned into the entrance of Forks High School, where his dull school experience was waiting for him.

* * *

"_Jaysus_, is this a joke?" Bella laughed. She took a glance around at the small classroom, and stared at the awestruck faces staring just as hard at her. She couldn't believe the difference from her old school, and the crowd she use to hang out with. Plus her laidback ripped jeans, and ripped up grey t-shirt matched the style of the students. Actually, she was a bit below average for clothes, and she gave grunge a whole entire meaning.

"I'm sorry, is what a joke?" the teacher asked, taking a slip from Bella's hand. Bella turned and looked at the tall, grey bearded teacher. She laughed again when she looked at what he was wearing. His Roots sweater, and brown cords topped the days worst dressed list.

"Nothing sir," Bella turned back to the class, "where do I get to sit?"

The confused teacher cocked an eyebrow behind the girl's back, which didn't go unnoticed to the rest of the students. But unlike Bella, they could hold back a chuckle.

"Umm, you'll be sitting at the empty desk at the back of the class," he turned and sat at his desk while Bella found her place in the cramped, back part of the classroom. She yawned, and placed her forehead on the desk to hide from the curious eyes around the class.

Bella kept her head on the desk during the class attendance, and even when the classroom door creaked open, and the teacher accused the student who entered of being late.

"I'm sorry, I lost track of time," the boy said.

Bella gasped, and lifted her head from the desk to stare into the just as surprised eyes of the boy she met this weekend. She shook her head in disbelief as he made his way towards the desk beside her. She put her head back on her desk when he pulled out the seat next to her, and sat down.

Edward was laughing on the inside at his shear bad luck. He didn't understand how the universe worked, and how it could possibly situate him and this girl together, in the same room, for the rest of the school year. Edward let out a sigh, just at the exact moment when the girl beside him groaned. He shook his head in disbelief again.

"Bella?" the teacher asked suddenly.

Bella's head sprang up from the desk.

"Yes Sir?"

"Would you like to come to the front of the class and introduce yourself?"

Bella was surprised that he wanted her to do this childish act, but she didn't _have_ to.

"Well, didn't you just do it?" she said simply, leaning back in her seat and looking around at the other students.

"No, I didn't…I just said your name-" he tried to say, but Bella cut him off.

"Exactly, you kind of gave away the ending," she said. The class laughed, but Bella didn't bother.

"Please come up to the front, my dear. We want to hear where you're from," the teacher looked at her with anxious eyes.

"Yeah, I guess I should before you give _everything _away," Bella sighed. The class laughed again, and even the boy beside her chuckled. She hit him in the arm to shut him up, and then she made her way to the front of the class.

Eager eyes stared into her dark brown ones while she desperately tried to piece together an interesting way to go about this little introduction.

"Well, I'm Bella. I'm from Phoenix. It's hot there, just like me…" she trailed off, just in time for the laughter to engulf the small classroom.

Over on the far right of the class, Edward found himself actually laughing at this smart mouthed girl. She was funny, and didn't mind telling it how it was.

"Very funny Bella, anything else?" the teacher said impatiently from his seat behind his desk.

"Hmm…well, I don't plan on staying here long. But that's not because I'm choosing to leave, it's just the way it is," she looked over at the teacher and shrugged her shoulders, as if to say, 'what next?'.

"Ok then, you can have a seat if that's everything," he pointed at the seat in the back of the class, and Bella made her way back beside Edward.

Edward wanted to ask her so many questions, but he didn't know what to ask first, and if his questions were appropriate for a stranger to ask. But he felt that he and Bella were so alike, and insanely different that just maybe, one day, they could get along. That's why Edward sucked in his guts, and decided that one question couldn't hurt her.

"So _Stacy_, how's life in forks treating you?" he asked, keeping his head forward so that the teacher didn't catch him talking during his teachings.

Bella kept her head forward, but actually responded.

"Well _Edward_, it's pretty shitty, if you must know. I don't know how you can stand it," she said lowly, paying no attention to his grin that was for some reason growing on the side of his face face.

"My name _is actually_ Edward. And I didn't say I could stand Forks," he opened up his binder on his desk, and began writing the notes on the board that the teacher had began writing a few moments ago.

Bella laughed in her head at his name. She couldn't understand what sort of parents would name their son Edward. She didn't let herself feel bad for him though. She needed any ounce of pity for her own party, which she routinely threw every night on her rooftop.

Edward and Bella didn't talk further on into their conversation. The class droned on, until finally, after pages of notes, the bell rang.

"About time," Edward and Bella both said simultaneously. They looked at each other, and neither knew what to say next. They both stood, and exited the classroom, one behind the other.

Bella's head was full of thoughts, one of them being that Edward wasn't as annoying as she thought. She didn't exactly like him, but hate was too strong of a word for the bronze haired, miserable guy he was. She even noticed that he was almost like her, with the depressing eyes, and the distaste for Forks too. Bella found it nice to know that not everyone in forks was a happy bastard.

She smiled to herself as she left the school, and headed for her dirt bike, that was parked illegally on a bike rack. She lifted her helmet and her jacket out of her bag, and picked up her speed to her bike. She loved her old dirt bike. It was the one gift from Charlie that she actually cared a lot for. It made her feel free, and made her forget her problems- especially when she drove beyond the speed limit.

Edward was keeping pace with Bella while walking to his car but when he saw Bella pull out a navy motorcycle helmet, he stopped in his tracks. He put two and two together, and couldn't believe the crazy maniac driver from this morning was right in front of him- and that it was her.

Edward couldn't hold back his anger as he watched Bella pull on her leather jacket, and jump onto her dirt bike- the same one that he had nearly crushed this morning. Edward couldn't walk fast enough over to her, and when he stepped in front of the bike, just as she was about to kick start it, he was yelling.

"Are you kidding m?! You were the one who cut me off this morning?!" he yelled, pointing his finger at the muddy bike.

Bella cocked and eyebrow, and didn't get what his problem was. That is until she looked next to the bike rack, and saw a silver Volvo- the same Volvo that she had cut off earlier that day.

"Oooh, yeah. My bad. I had my ear phones in, and I didn't hear a car coming. I just went without looking." She stood and kick started her bike. It choked, and it took another try to get it purring.

"You're unbelievable. You almost died. Do you not care?" he threw up his hands into his hair, and waited for an answer from the wild girl.

Bella shrugged. "It's going to happen sooner or later," she yelled over the bike engine. She then put on her bike helmet, and ripped out of the parking lot before the conversation got anymore heated.

Edward just stood near the bike rack, shaking his head, not knowing what to think. He knew he shouldn't have been surprised, he knew this girl was insane. That's what he liked about her. He just never met someone like her who lived like they had a death wish.

If he wasn't so pissed, he would have found this refreshing to know that not every human was the same, boring soul. But he couldn't calm himself down, and he too got into his car, and ripped out of the parking lot.

*******


	6. Coming to an Understanding

**Chapter 6: Coming to an Understanding. **

The sun was going down in the nearly empty park. The swings were swaying in the wind, the open grass field had just been freshly mowed, the fountain had just been turned off, and the forest was quiet. Bella loved this time of day to be alone. After her first day of school, riding her dirt bike across the park grass field and through the forest paths was the only thing that made her forget everything.

The path Bella was headed down, after ripping up the grass field, was her favourite one. It was bumpy, twisty, and led straight to her favourite place in the whole, wide world; her 'not-so-secret' swimming cove. Bella was anxious to get there. She had been riding all day, hadn't been home for supper or anything, and just wanted to relax.

She should have known that the day she needed to be alone in her cove the most, she would have to share it with the figure watching the sunset.

Edward was expecting Bella any minute. He had watched her tear up the park recklessly, and he could hear her piece of shit bike from miles away. He was excited to see the look on her face when she'd seen him sitting on "her" rock, watching the sunset she probably wanted to enjoy alone. But Bella didn't show any distress, or anger on her face when she took off her helmet to come face to face with him. She merely rolled her eyes at him, walked passed him, and jumped into the lake- fully clothed.

The water spilled in between Bella's leather coat and her skin quickly. It was cool, refreshing, and exhilarating. She stayed under for as long as her lungs could hold without oxygen, and then she finally pulled straight up, taking in a huge breath of air.

Edward stood on a rock half submerged under the water, and offered his hand to Bella, who was back-stroking to the rocks. She turned over, and actually accepted his hand. Edward pulled her up just like the first time they met.

Bella laughed.

"What's so funny?" Edward asked, moving over so that there was room for both him and the shivering girl on the rock. Bella shook her head to avoid the question, and threw her wet leather coat back onto the shoreline. "Come one, please tell me?" he persisted, looking into her face.

Bella didn't know why she found the whole situation so hilarious. She and Edward were on better terms since the last time they had bumped into each other at the cove, and she almost didn't mind the guy. She wasn't about to tell him that though.

"Oh you know…just how far we've come in a few days. I mean, I didn't even have to tell you to help me out of the water, you actually remembered to be a gentleman," she laughed, leaning on her back arm to look high into the sky at the pink and purple sunset.

Edward looked down at his hands, and smiled to himself, not able to think about a comeback at all. Instead he shoved Bella, which caused her to almost take another tumble into the water. Edward forgot how strong he was compared to her, and caught her arm at the last minute before she entered the water for a second time tonight.

"Sorry," he chuckled, grinning.

"Yeah sure, you sound sorry." The sarcasm was thick in her voice, but she smiled anyway.

Edward stared at Bella while she gazed at the sunset. He couldn't understand how a sun, simply disappearing behind the tree line, could hold much interest to a wild, out there teenager. Girls _her_ age weren't supposed to find comfort in the little things in life; they were too busy partying and making out with boys that didn't respect them. She was so different.

Bella felt Edward's eyes on her face, so she quickly looked away from the sunset, and into his eyes. He didn't cower away from her gaze though, like she expected.

"You're still a perv, eh?" Bella laughed, turning back to the sunset.

Edward's grin was back, his voice easily letting out another laugh. He was surprised how easy it was to laugh with her. He hadn't had a real laugh in years.

"No, I was just wondering what you find so appealing about sunsets," he continued to stare at her, watching her eyes squint, and her nose shrivel, which matched her dimples beside her grin.

"Dude, I hate sunsets. They're so depressing," she said.

Edward was confused again. Usually people didn't come to stare at dusk if they hated sunsets.

"I just like this place," Bella stood from the rock, and jumped back to the shoreline where her bike laid on its side. "And if there happens to be a sunset when I come here, so be it. I just want to be alone, and the depressing atmosphere makes me feel just at home," she smiled at Edward, who was looking at her over his shoulder.

Edward knew her light hearted joking was anything but joking. She spoke so much truth, hidden behind a pretend stand of a 'not caring' attitude. He found her so interesting, so real, so depressing, and so much like him- _too_ much like him.

Edward leaped off the rock, and back onto the shore to stand beside his… well…friend?

"So _Edward_, we've gone from strangers, to enemies, and now to frenimies, all in only a matter of days. Who knows what tomorrow holds. I feel like we'll have a sisterhood bond by nightfall. Maybe we should share jeans or something," Bella joked. She turned her back from his laugh to lift up her old dirt bike.

Edward didn't want her to leave. He wasn't ready to be by himself for the night. For once, he actually enjoyed someone's company. He wondered if she felt the same way.

"Are you going now?" he asked simply, in a voice that held no emotion, or concern if she did or not, when really, he cared too much if she left.

"Yes, I'm leaving _here_…but I'm just going over to the swings. You can follow me if you want, you perv." She tied her coat around her waist, and threw on her helmet. Within two seconds, she was out of sight.

Edward could easily have stayed pace with the bike, well maybe if she slowed down just a tad bit, but he had a human front to keep up. He waited ten or so minutes before popping out of the woods, and crossing the grass field where Bella was high on a swing.

"Let me guess, you don't like swinging either. You find it depressing?" he mocked her voice perfectly, which she ignored. He got on a swing beside her and caught up to her height.

"No," she said between puffs of breath, "I actually love swings. I sometimes feel happy when I'm this high up."

Bella pumped her legs harder and harder, pushing the swing to its limits, trying to get as high as the half moon just above her head. She gave up though, remembering swings can only go so far. As she drifted lower and lower, her legs flailing, she suddenly realized how a swing was the perfect metaphor for her life. She had highs, lows, but no matter how hard she tried, effort and commitment could only get her so far. She believed that sometimes, luck just had to be on your side if you wanted true happiness- which reminded her to make her usual wish for just that, into several stars above.

"Are you happy often?" Edward asked, letting his swing come to a halt beside Bella's.

"I don't know. That's a hard question…" she stood up from the swing and walked over to her dirt bike.

Edward followed behind, with a confused look on his face. He couldn't understand why that question was so hard. "Is it actually that hard of a question?" He watched her put on her helmet, readying to leave him for the night. Hopefully, maybe, they'd do this again.

"Yes. It depends on which form of happiness you're talking about," she flipped up the helmet visor so she could see his face, which was still a home for so much confusion. "There's external happy, which is caused by sudden occurrences in your life that brings joy, but only lasts all of two seconds, or there's internal happiness." Bella stood and kick started her bike.

Edward wasn't done with her yet though. "What's internal happiness?" he yelled over the choking of the bike.

Bella's shoulders shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I've never experienced it," she flipped down her visor and switched gears so that she was flying out of the parking lot too quickly.

Edward was left standing, pondering her answer, half understanding it, half not.

*******


	7. Deal? Deal

**Chapter 7: Deal? Deal.**

Even though Bella made it home by 9ish/10ish, Charlie wasn't impressed by the fact that she had disappeared all day, without a phone call or note. He didn't have it in him to ground her just yet, but he did feel like playing survey- which was Bella's least favourite game.

"You're stuff is all soaked," he pointed at her leather coat. "Was it even raining at all today?" Charlie asked, confused by Bella's drenched appearance. He was used to Bella's lack of interest in his questions though; he knew he just had to push to get an answer. "Where were you all day?" Charlie followed Bella up the narrow stairs to her bedroom, and stopped by the doorframe of her room, not to invade her space.

"Not home," she peeled of her leather coat, and chucked her helmet in her empty looking closet. Bella felt depressed when she looked around her room, and saw nothing on the walls that resembled who she was now, or her new found grunge style.

"Bella," Charlie waved his hand in the air to get the distracted girls detention, "answer needed."

"I think I gave you one," Bella said in a smartass tone. She walked over to her window and looked out into the darkness. She began to wonder why she even came home.

"Ok, you're grounded. No dirt biking tomorrow. Find your own way to school," Charlie said angrily. He then stalked off down the hallway and into his bedroom.

"Pssh, like I care," Bella whispered to herself. "I have two legs."

Bella had to laugh at the thought of her walking to school tomorrow, waving to Charlie as he passed her sorry ass on the road.

"Gawd, too funny…"she sighed, still smiling at the private joke.

Little did Bella know, Charlie wasn't kidding, and her laughter would end come morning.

* * *

Rain came down in buckets as Bella trenched through it. It seemed to be coming from every direction, and Bella's thin rain coat was apparently not water proof. She wasn't sure the night before if Charlie was going to keep his word, but this morning, her bike was gone, and no matter how hard she looked, it wasn't popping out of its hiding place.

Bella swore when Charlie ironically drove by, and honked his horn to rub in the fact that he had four tires, and all she had was a pair of torn up chucks.

She flipped him off anyway, which he managed to see through the pouring rain in his rear view mirror. Next thing Bella saw was the cruiser being thrown in reverse, coming straight for her.

"Gah!" she yelled, jumping out of the way of the rear bumper, nearly landing in the ditch.

Charlie was now pulling down the driver side window, and popping his head out the window. It took everything she had in her not to kick him in the face.

"Hope you kissed your bike goodbye Bella. I'm so sick of your attitude. You need to smarten up and learn to respect people, other than yourself. I don't like being this way with you, especially under the circumstances, but seriously Bella, like seriously! What would you do?" he stared into her emotionless eyes, waiting for her response.

"Don't wait for me to fall over and die, just put me down already," she threw her arms into the air, while the rain pelted her bare face, making it feel raw.

Charlie simply drove off. He wasn't having her bullshit today. He didn't even know why he bothered to stop. Nothing could break Bella, and make her realize how distasteful her attitude was, or how unattractive she had been acting the past couple months.

"Go fuck yourself," Bella yelled after the cruiser. She was livid, beyond livid. She threw off her thin rain coat, and chucked it into the woods. Next was her backpack, which disappeared into a near by stream. Her clothes chaffed her skin with each foot step towards Forks High School, but hell, she was going. She had something to prove to Charlie, and to herself, but she wasn't exactly sure what it was.

* * *

Biology was suddenly Edward's new favourite subject. It wasn't because the teacher was mostly kind to him, or because the homework wasn't expected to be done. It was the new student in class that caused him to have a sudden urge to get to biology on time. His new pal was something to look forward to in his pointless existence.

Edward was actually the first student to enter Biology that morning. He found his seat at the back, eagerly awaiting Bella to arrive to ask her more questions, and hear more about her life. Eventually, time ticked on, and more students piled into the cramped classroom. None of them were Bella. Even when the bell rang for the class to begin, Edward still had a flicker of hope that she was just running late, and that she would be here in two seconds.

Two seconds turned into two minutes, which multiplied into 20 minutes, than 40 minutes. When the bell rang for the class to end, Edward jumped up, and ran out of the class. He had to find Bella. He needed to see her. Maybe he would see her in the hallway, or near the lockers.

Edward didn't see Bella in the hallway, or by the locker, or even in between the next two classes. Edward continued his routine of searching the halls for Bella, but eventually the lunch bell rang, and Bella obviously wasn't making an appearance half way in between the school day.

Life started to suck for Edward Cullen again. One little ounce of disappointment destroyed his vision of a good day, and created a depressing one. Edward sulked as he walked into the cafeteria to sit with his family, who were just as quiet as him today.

Alice eyed Edward curiously. He didn't notice her eyes tracing over his hunched shoulders, and distressed face. This was usual for Edward to act and look, but recently, Alice had seen slight changes in him. Like the other day, Edward coming home at 12 in the morning, smiling. Alice knew his future was in for a dramatic change, but the reason for it was still unseen. Whatever the reason for Edwards's short lived smile, Alice was determined to find it for him again.

Alice closed her eyes and began to concentrate on Edward's possible future. She passed through pointless images of Edward reading books, which was normal for him, and sighed at all the other boring scenes of his life that she saw flying by. Alice was about to give up, until she saw something different. A vision of Edward in a new atmosphere- a mall?

Alice opened her eyes quickly, realizing what was going on with Edward. She finally figured out his sneakiness, and sly smiles on his face. Alice smiled to herself at the thought of Edward trying to surprise her with a present.

Alice could almost giggle. It had been years since Edward had gotten her a gift of any sort, seeing how they were not exactly as close anymore, but maybe he had realized how snotty he had been acting over the years.

Edward's head stayed on the table. He was completely oblivious to the fact that Alice was making the wrong assumptions about his mood swings. Edward couldn't stop thinking about why Bella had disappeared today. He didn't even get to know her.

Rosalie was sitting next to Edward, ignoring his miserable ways, just like she normally did. She didn't have enough time in her long life to waste on consoling a broken soul. She knew his problem. She knew he needed to find another soul, just as broken as his, so that both could come together and fit. Rosalie laughed in her head at the sheer thought of Edward finding another person to relate to; it wasn't possible to find anyone as miserable as him.

Rosalie sighed, and decided not to let her mind wonder into Edwards's problems anymore. Instead, she saw her reflection in the window behind Alice, who was sitting across from her and Edward, and stared intently into her own gorgeous features.

Today her hair was perfect, just like yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that. Her clothes fit her like a glove, which complimented her hourglass figure. Rosalie smiled at herself, but was thdn distracted from her beauty by a figure in the distance, just outside the window. Rosalie squinted her eyes to get a good look through the pouring rain.

The drenched girl didn't have on a coat, and was lying on the grass, near the tire swing by the forest. She was moving her lips, probably talking to herself, and she looked miserable. From the cafeteria, Rosalie thought she looked quite a lot like Edward, except this figure was clearly a girl, and she looked like she was just insane.

Rosalie laughed. "Emmett, look at that girl outside. Has she completely lost her mind?"

Before Emmett could turn to look out the window, Edward's head snapped up, and with only one, slight glace out the window, he was on his feet and out the door in less than two seconds.

Edward ran faster than human speed, but he knew the human eye couldn't see though the pouring rain. Maybe that's why the girl on the ground flinched and swore when he popped up behind her.

Bella caught her breath when she realized it was just Edward, probably trying to piss her off some more. She relaxed again, and put her head back on the grass to let the rain pound into it.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked. He stood over her, watching the confused look on her face grow into frustration, and then erase out into a blank stare focused on the sky.

The question was simple. It consisted of two common words, which every human being knew the meaning of. But right at that second, Bella was so caught off guard by how he had cut right to the chase, not bullshitting around, that she didn't know what to say.

No one ever asked her 'what's wrong', there was always a third and fourth word added to it that made the question so much more frustrating to answer. But Edwards question was easy, she knew what was bothering her, but where to start was unknown to her.

"Everything," Bella closed her eyes, waiting for Edward to continue with the questions, and invade her personal thoughts some more.

Edward didn't though. He knew what Bella was doing. He knew she was having one of those days where the world just didn't seem right. He had them often, more than often, so he understood that acquisitions, questions, and a demand for answers was the last thing anyone in this case wanted.

"That sucks," he sat down beside her, and looked up into the pouring rain with her.

Bella smiled, and looked over at him, expecting him to be staring. Instead his attention was focused on the sky. Bella laughed at this.

Edward looked away from the sky at the sound of his friend's laugh. He didn't know what was so funny, but her laugh gave him an automatic smile. He didn't question her sudden mood swing; he didn't want it to disappear.

Bella felt better all the sudden. Her terrible morning was now in the past, her angry afternoon was finally getting behind her, and now the day was getting sunny- except that it was raining.

"Do you have a thing for tire swings or something?" Edward nodded over to the tire swing, which made Bella laugh.

"I think so. I love swinging, I think I told you already, it makes me feel happy," she stood up and grabbed onto the swing. Edward followed beside her.

"Only external happy though, right? It only lasts two seconds, which is probably why you gave up on it," he smiled when she did.

"You actually pay attention. And yes, that's all true," she said. "I had a terrible morning, like beyond terrible," she told him.

Edward nodded, knowing the sort she talked about. He knew they had a ton in common.

"To make a short story even shorter, my dad took my dirt bike, and I had to walk to school in the rain."

Edward didn't know whether to laugh, get angry, or feel bad for her. Instead, he just listened.

"So I was walking, in the pouring rain. I lost my temper, which can happen, and I ditched my school bag and my jacket. I don't know why I did it, it just felt right. Then I was beginning to wonder why I bother with going to school, so when I walked into the parking lot, I saw the tire swing. I didn't bother with classes today," she shrugged, as if this was the most typical story ever. That made Edward laugh.

Bella rolled her eyes at her friend, but understood that the whole situation was silly.

"I know, its lame," she sighed. He was still laughing, even after she punched him in the arm.

"Bella, next time, can you promise me something?" he asked, his laughing fit was over.

"No." She said simply.

"Call me if you need a drive to school," he said, "but only to school, I'm not your bitch."

The two friends laughed in the rain, while the bell to end lunch went off.

"Deal?" he asked, holding out his hand.

Bella took it and shook. "Deal," she smiled.

"Come on, let's take the rest of the day off," he grabbed her hand, and started to lead her to his car, "I'll give you my number when were out of the rain."

Bella laughed. "Ooh now I can be one of those lucky girls you've given your number to. I feel so special," she said sarcastically.

Edward shook his head, not giving her the pleasure to hear him laugh. If only she knew that he had never even had a girlfriend, let alone a friend.

*******


	8. Devious Smile

**Chapter 8: Devious Smile**

"I dare you to try that on," Bella pointed to a tuxedo, hanging in a display window of a fancy dress store.

Edward wasn't really sure which of them decided that going to the mall was the best way to kill some time, but so far, zero shopping was to be had. Instead, the two headed straight for the food court. Edward wasn't eating, but Bella ate enough for both of them. This amused Edward.

Edward looked over his shoulder at the store Bella was pointing at.

"Hell no," he said, turning back to Bella, who was chugging down her pop.

"Why not?" she said in between sips. "It would be funny".

"No it wouldn't."

"Yes it would," she argued, leaning back in her seat.

Edward shook his head, and put his face in his hands. He didn't know whether to give in to her whining, or just take of and ditch his annoying friend. No, he knew how to get even with her.

"Fine, you're right, it would be fun," he stood, which she followed along with him. "Of course, you'd be trying on the dress beside it."

Bella's eyes widened as she followed Edward towards the store. Sure enough, a strapless, navy dress, with sparkles, weird fabric, and rips, was next to the tux.

She groaned.

"Yup, I bet you wished you kept your mouth shut now. Looks like were both playing dress up today," he grabbed her wrist, and pulled Bella towards the dress store.

* * *

"I'm not coming out," Bella yelled over the dressing room to Edward, who was next door, just as frustrated as her.

"I know, either am I," he yelled back. "This is a disaster."

"No shit," Bella said, zipping up the back of the dress, hoping that would make it look less ridiculous. She still felt like a moron though.

"You two stop it, and get out here," the old sales lady yelled. She had been listening to every single swear word and groan coming out of Edward and Bella's dressing rooms. She couldn't stand it any longer. "At least take a look at each other."

Both Edward and Bella sighed, and together, they opened their dressing room doors.

Edward looked to his left and Bella to her right.

Laughter filled the dressing room area of the small dress shop.

"I hardly see what is so funny," the old sales lady scowled. She walked in between the two laughing hyenas, and turned them to face a huge mirror. "Look at you two. You're quite a good looking match. I can definitely see you two accepting crowns at the prom."

Just when Edward and Bella thought this moment couldn't get any funnier, the mention of prom intensified their laughter to higher decibels.

The old sales lady couldn't take them anymore. "Teenagers," she sighed, throwing up her hands, and walking out of the dressing area.

Edward and Bella didn't even notice the old sales lady walking off; they were too occupied with how ridiculous they looked.

"Jesus Christ," Bella was laughing so hard, tears were falling down her eyes. "We look so dumb." She couldn't remember a time in her life when she had laughed so hard- not ever.

"Fuck, I've never felt so much like an idiot," Edward laughed. He threw his arm over Bella's shoulder, and tugged her into his chest. "Look at us," his laughter trailed off.

"I can't, I've never tried on a dress like this before," Bella sighed, wiping tears from her eyes. She was smiling from ear to ear still.

"I think I should have tried on the dress," Edward joked, letting go of Bella when she smacked him in the face.

"Well, you'd probably look better in it," Bella laughed, turning back to her dressing room, and shutting the door.

Edward stood, facing the mirror, fully taking in the whole experience he just had. He was laughing, in a dress shop, with a human he actually liked. Another plus, this human looked damn good in a dress- not that he would ever tell her that.

Edward smiled one last time at himself in the tux, and rolled his eyes at a few young girls who were watching him from the sales floor. He turned back into his dressing room and took of the tux in rapid speed, beating Bella to the exit of the store.

"Well well, slow poke," Edward said to Bella when she walked up, adjusting her shirt, "enjoying dress shopping too much?"

Bella simply walked on, holding in the urge to smile.

She still couldn't believe that she was having a good day- a good day with Edward, the boy who kept pissing her off.

"Too the car then," Edward pointed to the mall exit, and added, "first one there gets to choose the first song on the CD to play."

Bella and Edward raced out of the deserted mall, and of course, Edward let himself win- there was no way in hell he was loosing to some Bella Swan.

"Hmm, I think I'll play a classic," he said when he started up the car engine, and flipped through song choices on his burnt CD. He finally got to song number 6, which he turned up as much as his player would allow.

Bella's eyes widened when she heard the beginning of the song, and a huge grin was plastered across her face when the chorus began. Edward noticed this.

"You like this song too?" he yelled over his head banging.

"Fuck! Like?" Bella yelled, "_Superman's Dead_ is my favourite song!"

Edward smiled at this, and both he and Bella sang to the chorus, and danced as much as their seat belts would allow.

Edward drove outrageously fast, spinning around corners, and nearly missing oncoming cars. Bella didn't even notice. The CD that was playing was, what she called, 'kickass', and at that moment, Bella felt free, light, and lifted.

Edward loved the way he felt. He wasn't miserable, for once in his life, and he was living in the moment. Right then, nothing could make him feel angry or upset- he was living in the now.

He looked over at Bella, who was still shaking her body in weird movements to the music. He laughed at her, and mocked her dance movements.

Together, they were a happy duo. But amidst all the happiness that was flowing within the silver Volvo, a lump of sadness was forming in the pits of each teenager's stomachs. Each knew that one day, whether near, hopefully far from now, there would be an unhappy ending.

Neither Bella nor Edward knew that each other had the same depressing thoughts of the events to come, but for some reason, at the moment the CD ended, reality of their own situations sunk in, and both were given a tough question.

Should one risk the happiness of the present, by revealing a secret, or should one continue on, letting the future play on as it comes.

Neither of the two could answer that for them self, so for the rest of the car ride, only silence was to be heard.

*******

**Superman's Dead- Our Lady Peace.**


	9. The Fork in the Road

**Chapter 9: The Fork in the Road. **

Bella still didn't have her bike back when the weekend came, which pissed her off. What was the point of being ungrounded when she still didn't get to have her bike?

"I'm keeping it from you for my own reasons, Bella. I don't like the way you drive it- I'm the chief of police, yet you zoom by me on that thing like I was merely a leaf on the road," Charlie said, pouring himself a cup of coffee, and flipping over the newspaper.

Bella didn't bother saying anything. She held her tongue so that she would at least still have the freedom to use her own feet. As long as Edward was around, she could enjoy herself in forks. If she was all the sudden forbidden to see him, which would be a laugh if Charlie ever tried that, she would be back to her old ways, a complete 180.

Bella felt her phone vibrate in her cargo shorts pocket, so she sighed, and ran up the stairs to her bedroom for some privacy from Charlie.

She knew it was Edward even before he greeted her 'hello'- no one else had her number, and she only had Edward's. What she didn't expect was the piece of information Edward gave her that nearly made her fall off her bed with excitement.

"I know where your bike is, Bella. I heard Charlie telling the corner store clerk last night that 'Teenagers are out of control. Just last week I had to take my daughters dirt bike and hide it under the back deck'."

Bella screamed from excitement into the phone, and told Edward that she'd meet him at the cove in a half hour. He agreed, and hung up, feeling proud that he helped find Bella's shitty bike.

Edward shoved his cell phone into his pocket, and turned to face Alice- who was right up in his face all the sudden.

"I don't like this," Alice said lowly to Edward.

Edward ignored his sister, which he always did, and tried to get around her.

"I know you're going to see that girl, which would be fine if you were human- but you're not!" Alice said louder, blocking Edward from the door.

Edward knew she spoke the truth. He and Bella were too different, yet they were perfect for each other. It was hell for Edward to know that he could never be Bella's equal, and not be allowed to grow up and experience life with her. He was stuck in one spot, unlike Bella, who was moving forward.

"Listen Edward, I don't get her. I feel like there is something about her that's not right-" Alice was cut off by Edwards yelling.

"Enough! Who cares about your stupid bullshit. I sure as hell don't give a damn what's going to happen. Sooner or later it had to be my turn to feel good, and seeing Bella makes me feel good. If you don't like that, I don't like you."

"Whatever Edward. I just know something isn't right. There are too many holes in your future; I can't see anything now that yours is intertwined with hers. She has too many loop holes."

"No one cares Alice," Edward said, shoving past her, and out the patio doors.

He ran hard through the woods, knowing he'd get to the cove a bit early. He needed the extra time to think, time to be alone to actually think about what Alice was trying to say to him. He knew she was right, and that made him angry. But on the other hand, he knew he was right as well, and that _it was_ his turn for happiness.

Edward made it to the cove in record time, and found himself a spot on the rock to think. For once in his life, he was actually contemplating on telling his age old secret to a human.

* * *

Sure enough, Bella had found her bike where Edward had said. It was too easy, really. Charlie was off fishing, and she simply had to find her spare key, dig out the bike, and off she was, flying down the curvy roads of Forks.

It felt great to be back on her dirt bike. Even though it didn't have a radio, or keep her sheltered from the rain, riding was still very enjoyable. Bella increased the speed on her speedometer, which was already reading thirty over the limit. She smiled at the thought of her dad pulling her over- what a laugh that would be.

Her smile was wiped off her face when she thought about Edward though. He didn't realize the time he had with her was numbered, and that soon, he was going to be devastated.

It was strange to actually have a different outlook on life within a week. Bella went from not caring about life, wanting to die to get it over with, to actually looking forward to something when she woke up, and wanting to get out of bed. What was funny was the change in her was all because of a boy. But what wasn't funny was the fact that she was keeping a terrible secret from him. She felt like she was lying to him, and she needed to tell him. But how could she without ruining everything, and causing him to feel only pity for her. She liked how things were going with them now, and telling him would only scare him off.

Bella increased her speed. She needed to stop thinking about the choices that needed to be made, and concentrate on just living long enough.

Bella was clearly getting upset. She didn't like feeling emotional, but for some reason, tears were starting under her helmet, and those traitor tears were pissing her off.

She took her left hand off the bar of the bike, and went to lift the visor of her helmet to wipe away her ugly tears. But when she went to open her visor, her bike choked.

Bella lost control of her bike as soon as she lost her concentration. Ahead, a fork in the road composed a problem for Bella's wobbling bike, and she couldn't make a decision of left or right in time before she smashed into a wooden guard rail.

At the moment when her body made full contact between the rail and bike, Bella lost consciousness, and her mind was greeted by a black hole.

* * *

Edward was getting antsy sitting alone in the cove. He had enough time to think, and realized that telling Bella what he was would only scare her off. He just wanted to see her, and enjoy the time he had with her. But he couldn't understand what was keeping her so long.

Edward stood up on the rock that he had been sitting on for over an hour, and glanced up at the sun that had been moving slowly across the sky. At that precise moment, his cell phone vibrated.

A smile wiped across his face when he recognized the number on the screen.

Edwards smile was instantly erased off his face when a cracked, probably crying, voice whispered 'please help me' through his phone. Edward's throat closed in at the realization that Bella was in trouble. He was already running through the forest, and talking into his phone, trying to get another response from her.

The line went dead, and for a second, Edward's world got a little bit darker.

*******


	10. Silent Prayers

**Chapter 10: Silent Prayers**

Bella was off in her own world now. It was a lonely world, where she was trapped with her thoughts, and these thoughts told her she wasn't getting out of this one alive. It was dark here, with a ton of space to walk. But Bella didn't want to walk. A piercing stab near her rib cage caused her to fall over into the darkness.

She tried to scream, but nothing but air came out of her mouth. She began to fall through the black ground, and soon, she was flipping and flipping through the air, falling further into blackness. A sudden smash to her back jolted her world around; the blackness was gone.

Bella knew something bad had happened. Her bike laid half on top of her, pinning her in a painful place on the ground. She couldn't keep her eyes open. Her head was throbbing, and her rib cage felt like it had been shifted out of place.

She laid perfectly still, wishing she could move to get her helmet off. She couldn't remember anything about the crash, but only where she was now. She knew the situation wasn't good.

Ran pelted her body from every angle, soaking Bella's ripped up jeans and newly ripped leather coat. She started to shake from the cold.

Bella began to black out again, but before she closed her eyes to greet the darkness, she noticed her cell phone lying beside her, vibrating continuously from the only person she wanted to see at that moment. Bella turned her head to the side, and finally let herself be engulfed by her mind- right before Edward popped out of the woods behind her.

Edward flew across the road at vampire speed, and lifted the bike off Bella without hesitation.

"Bella! Bella wake up!" he yelled. He carefully lifted her head out of her helmet, which had mostly protected Bella from the crash- well at least her head.

There was no response in Bella. She was completely out.

Edward wrapped his arms under her lifeless body, and lifted her carefully into him.

She looked so broken to him. Her body was damaged, and suddenly, he noticed her shirt was stained red near her ribs.

This surprised Edward, but now that he saw it, he did sort of smell the blood- just not the way it normally smelled. He actually didn't feel the urge to drink her blood; it didn't smell very appealing to him. It smelled all wrong, and didn't hold that appetising rust smell that he loved.

Now wasn't the time for him to think about his thirst. He raced down the road, running as fast as his vampire legs could carry him, fighting the urge to break down and give up.

But Bella was fighting to stay alive. She had something to live for now, something to wake up in the morning and get her moving for. She wanted to live, wanted to be happy, and wanted to laugh with Edward again.

Bella Swan was not going to let herself die from some stupid motorcycle accident. If the doctors said she had only two months to live with her disease, she wasn't going to waste it smeared across a road, in the middle of Forks, Washington.

Bella was already surviving, and being killed off in a lame accident was not her way to go. She saw death with more wires hooked into her, fluids being drained into her, and a lot of beeping from machines. She knew her final fate, so why not live long enough to experience it?

* * *

"Her malignant disease is still quite active. Such a shame, really, she'd shown so much potential," the doctor whispered to the nurse.

The old doctor and the pretty nurse watched, from a second level window, as Charlie wheeled his daughter towards the police cruiser. Laryn, the blonde nurse, turned towards the doctor. He gave her a grim smile.

"It's tough, you know, Charlie is such a good man. His life seems to be falling apart. First his wife leaves him, now his daughter…" Laryn sighed, unable to finish her sentence. She walked out of the room. She didn't like thinking about death, especially when it was long, painful, and happening to someone too young.

The doctor continued to stare out the window. He watched Bella shove her father's helping hands away from her, and try and get into the passenger seat herself. Charlie stood close though, in case she tumbled over and re-fractured her rib. Bella did manage to get into the car by herself, although, her face showed it wasn't painless.

The old doctor sighed, and had enough of watching life being unfair. He turned and walked away from the window.

He was angry at himself for not being able to give the girl good news. He was angry at the nurses for being unable to cheer up the young girl. He was angry at Charlie for not understanding his daughter. But most of all, he was angry at the teenage girl, Bella, for being so angry at the world, and giving up on a little thing called 'hope'.

He didn't dwell on her situation, though. If the young girl was going to have a rotten attitude towards the world, there was no way of a miracle occurring to save her life.

For the old doctor was sure of one thing; without the will to live, death seemed to find its way around the corner a lot quicker.

* * *

"Are you going to be getting out of bed today?" Charlie asked, walking into his daughter's room, and opening up the curtains.

It was sunny out, on a day Bella couldn't enjoy it.

"No. I didn't yesterday, why would I today?" Bella said lowly, not looking at Charlie.

"Bella, you need to get up. You can't stay in bed, you should move around, get a feel for the rod in your rib-"

"Stop it, there is no point for me getting up," Bella stared into Charlie's eyes. He didn't understand what she was saying.

"Bella, it's just a fracture-"

"A pathologic fracture Charlie! I'm not dumb, I heard the doctors!" Bella was now yelling.

"What are you saying…?" he trailed off.

"A fracture would be fine, if it was from the bike accident. This one was unavoidable. It was bound to happen 'cause it's from the cancer!"

Charlie didn't know what to say to his daughter. She did know too much about her fate then he realized.

He did the only thing he knew how to do, which was walk away from the situation. He went downstairs, and sat down on the old couch to think about how this had to happen to his daughter.

If only they had caught the pancreatic cancer sooner on, maybe treatment would have done her good. But he knew the facts, and pancreatic cancer was notoriously known as the "silent disease", which was why Bella didn't have any symptoms for years- that is until it was too late. Bella's case was extremely rare. Having this sort of cancer at her age was almost unheard of. She was so unlucky.

He knew the fracture was a result from the metastatic stage of the cancer, and it was spreading quickly. The doctors turned out to be right about not operating on there daughter months ago; the cancer wasn't localized and she simply wouldn't survive such a major surgery.

But was he just supposed to sit around, and watch his daughter die? Maybe he should send her back to her mother. That was out of the question, now that he thought of it; they didn't get along anymore. Bella was supposed to be enjoying the time she had left in Forks, but she only laid upstairs with a broken body, and a broken spirit.

* * *

Bella didn't know what to do with herself. Today was day two out of the hospital, which she had spent too long in, and she couldn't imagine going on with life any longer. She didn't know where her hope for the better had disappeared to, or where her external happiness had drifted off to. One thing she knew for sure was clinical depression was a symptom of pancreatic cancer, which didn't make feeling good possible most of the time.

The only thing that could make her feel slightly better was Edward, but she had already scared him off. She hadn't seen Edward since she'd woken up in the ward.

Remembering seeing his frantic eyes, and not knowing what was going on, made her feel worse about lying to him. But she knew he could never find out about her terminal illness. She would never let him feel pity for her. Maybe she shouldn't have freaked at him though. Yelling at him to get out, that she wanted to be alone, wasn't the way to treat him. As long as he stayed away, he would forget about her, and find a new best friend. But she didn't want that…she wanted to be with him, but not hurt him at the same time. Life was so unfair…

"Fuck it," Bella sighed. She lifted her legs off of her bed, and stepped down onto the cold hardwood. The easy part was over, now for the hard part.

She put pressure, ever so slowly, on her legs, and began to stand. The pain was too much, and she sat slowly back down onto her bed.

Bella began to breathe heavy, which hurt her rib, but it was the only thing she could do to keep from crying. She wasn't going to let herself cry over herself- which she managed not to.

She tried to stand again, this time sucking in the pain, and going for it hard. She stood, and held it this time, pain from the middle of her rib ripping through her body.

"There," she whispered, after the initial pain slowly subsided. "Nothing to it."

"Nice work, but you haven't taken a step yet," a familiar voice said near the doorway. She looked up, shocked to see that she wasn't insane, and Edward was standing in my bedroom doorframe.

"What the fuck, how'd you get in here?" Bella looked around her room, not knowing whether to stand in place, fall back onto her bed, or simply roll over and die. But she knew better to think of death as being simple; it was long, hard, and painful.

"Charlie let me in. He recognized me from the hospital. I told him who I was, 'your bestest bud', but I didn't tell him that I was the cause for you busting out a rib," he walked over to stand in front of Bella, and held out his palms of his hands.

"You're not the cause of the rib being busted, believe me I wish you were," Bella placed her hands in his, and let him help her take a step. She held in the screams that were ripping up her throat, and managed to take just one step.

"Bella, I told you where your bike was. If I hadn't have told you, you wouldn't have been on the slippery roads, smashing up yourself and your bike," he urged her to take another step, carefully pulling her towards him. Bella bulked, and shook her head. She was beginning to get angry at Edward for thinking absurd thoughts. She was also feeling angry at herself, for being a wimpy baby, but most of all, she was angry at life, for setting her up for this mess.

"Come on, you can take another step. I won't let you fall, you can trust me." He looked into her eyes, and smiled a perfect smile when Bella rolled her eyes.

If Edward had a heart, it would be fluttering.

Bella lifted her foot off the ground, and the other one followed. She held onto Edwards hands tightly.

Bella then took another step, and another. The pain was still there, but Bella was able to put it out of her mind while she concentrated on Edwards encouraging face.

The pain came screeching back into Bella's ribs though when Edwards promise of not letting her fall was tested. Bella tripped on an old rug, lying in her way, causing her to fall forward.

Bella was right to trust Edward, and he caught her in his chest, holding all her weight upright.

"Bella are you alright?" Edward asked frantically, but Bella's face was buried in his chest. She knew if she tried to answer, screams of pain would erupt from her mouth.

Bella shook her head instead, and lifted her head off his chest.

Edward could see the pain spread across her face. Her jaw was tensed so tightly, her eyes were completely shut, and her lips were pressed into the hardest line. He didn't let go of her body, he knew she would fall to the ground.

"Bella let me take you back to your bed," he waited for Bella to say something, but she was still trying to overcome the extreme pain She just nodded.

Edward slid his arm behind her knees, and kept his other one securely around her waist. Bella didn't let on that he was hurting her, but he knew she was holding in the screams.

He walked carefully across the room with her in his arms, and placed her slowly down onto her bed.

Bella sighed, letting out a huge breath of relief. The pain in her rib had disappeared almost, and she was able to talk again.

"Thank you," she reached for a pillow near her feet, but Edward beat her to it, and placed it behind her back, against the head board.

"Bella, are you alright?" he walked around the other side of her bed, and slid in next to her. He was careful not to brush up next to her, knowing the slightest flinch was like a stab in her rib.

"I am now," she said, "I think I've had enough walking for one day."

Edward nodded, and couldn't help feel sorry for his friend, who was on bed rest.

"Bella, you don't even have a TV in here." He looked around her room, and noticed for the first time how cool it was. Her dresser was old, and scratched up, but covered in posters, and random stickers. Her walls, which were white, were nearly hidden behind shelves of books, posters of bands he had on _his_ walls all well, and random scribbles she had probably done herself.

On the floor, old hardwood was covered by an old rug, and tons of clothes thrown around. Clothes were everywhere in fact- on her desk lamp, on her laptop, and even on her shelves.

"Your room is a mess Bella," he laughed. Now that he thought about it, she did seem like the type of girl who had a secret, and maybe living in a pig sty was it.

"A clean room is a sign of a wasted life," she said, "So when I got here, I finally got around to making it my own. This is me…" she trailed off.

Edward didn't know what to say. He had heard that saying somewhere before, but this room was beyond a mess, it was destroyed.

"I know though, it is pretty disgusting, I probably should clean it up so Charlie doesn't have to when I leave-" Bella cut herself off, and looked into Edwards confused face. She looked away.

"So it's true, you are leaving here. You were telling the truth to the class on your first day of school." He continued to stare at her face.

Bella shrugged, "I have to leave sometime. I can't avoid the inevitable."

"There is no way you can stay?" he asked, grabbing onto her hand and holding tightly to it.

"Well I did hear my dad once say, 'you decide when it's your time to go', so I can stay as long as I want then, I guess." she told him, knowing the last part was a complete lie. Her illness would take her life when it decided, not the other way around.

Edwards face was gleaming. He smiled the hugest smile, and fought back the urge to give his friend a hug. He cared so much for her, too much, and was overjoyed that she wasn't leaving anytime soon.

"Bella, don't worry, I'll bring over some games we can play, and a TV for you. I'll make your recovery time so fun. And I'll help you recover, if you'll let me, that is…" he looked down.

Bella felt happy again. It was funny how he was able to turn her day around, and erase her depressing thoughts. She needed him so much, and she was too happy to accept his offer. She knew she didn't deserve him…

Bella rubbed her hand on his arm, getting his full attention. She smiled at him.

"If you want to be around me, go for it. Feel free to stay as long as you want, and feel free to leave anytime you want." She offered.

Edward let go of her hand, and carefully wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He knew not to take her words for heart, because he would stay forever if that were the case.

Bella leaned into Edward, which didn't hurt her rib. She was content for the moment, knowing her friend cared enough to stay around. But what kind of friend was she being, not telling him about herself?

At that moment, the two best friends, probably a bit more than best friends, were thinking the exact same thoughts. Both were thinking how they didn't deserve each others company, and also, desperately wishing the secret they each had, didn't exist.

Edward sat, holding Bella, praying to God to turn him into a human, so he could move on in life with Bella. Beside him, Bella closed her eyes, and prayed to God to make her cancer disappear, so she could live forever with Edward.

At the same time, the duo sighed. Neither of them could understand how one person coming into their life could change their entire outlook on living.

*******


	11. Finally

**Chapter 11: Finally.**

"Wow, the sky is so dark tonight," Bella whispered over to Edward, who was staring just as intently at the sky as she was.

"I know, just like the night before, and the night before that. Strange how it does that at 1:30 in the morning…" Edward braced himself for a jab in the ribs, which Bella delivered on.

"Shut up…" she laughed. Edward gave a low laugh too, and looked away from the sky at Bella.

The two had been coming onto Bella's roof ever since Bella began walking again, which was quicker than anticipated thanks to Edward. They didn't do much talking, having spent entire days together; nights were just for the company. Usually they just laid on their backs, and gazed into the stars. Now If Charlie had known that Bella was sneaking out of her room late in the night to see Edward, he'd lock her in the basement.

"Bella, what are you thinking about?" Edward asked her out of the blue.

Bella turned her head to the side to look into his face. She smiled at the curious expression on his face. "I'm thinking what Charlie is thinking about you and I, spending night and day together- not that he needs to ever know about the night part," she turned to look back at the stars.

"I think about that too. I don't think he likes me very much. Actually, I know he doesn't like me at all. He thinks I'm going to get you pregnant just by touching you. I see him looking through the curtains when I drop you off from a late movie," Edward admitted, smiling playfully. But he wanted to tell her so much more. Like how he had read Charlie's mind only once, discovering that Charlie held so much fear for Bella's well being. Almost too much. Edward didn't understand it, and wouldn't until Bella told him her secret.

Bella laughed, only because he was so right. Charlie did hate Edward, and he did spy on the two of them whenever he could. Charlie didn't understand that Bella could never be in a serious relationship with Edward; maybe if the circumstances were different, but they weren't.

"You know it's true eh? He thinks we're dating," Edward said, turning back to look at Bella.

"Edward, we are dating. We've been dating since day one. We go to the movies every other night, we eat out everyday, we go swimming whenever the weather is nice- that's dating, that's so us," Bella was smiling at Edward's expression, and the way he rolled his eyes at how absurd she sounded. She knew, though, that he knew she was right.

There was a prolonged silence after that. Not an awkward silence, just the type that was filled with the presence of another person being near.

"What else are you thinking about?" Edward asked.

"Honestly," Bella began, not knowing how to tell him, "well…secrets."

Edward raised his eyebrows, and sat up to look down into her face. He wasn't expecting that.

"Secrets? Bella Swan, what piece of information are you holding out on me? We _are_ best buds right?" he joked, but still wondering what she was keeping from him. But who could blame her; it wasn't like he didn't have the biggest secret out there. Yet, hers couldn't be worse than his.

Bella sat up, and rolled her eyes at him.

"Yes we _are_ best friends, Edward, but there are still things you do not know about me."

"Like what?" he was truly interested in what she had to say now. Why couldn't he read this mysterious girl's mind?!

"Ummm, like why I moved to Forks," she whispered. "It wasn't because my mom couldn't stand me anymore, well that was sort of it, but that wasn't the only reason..." she trailed off. She couldn't do it, not tonight.

"So why did you come to Forks?" he stared into her eyes, searching into the darkness of them. She really did have secretive eyes.

"I can't say…" she shook her head, and looked down at her hands. She didn't know how else to tell him, she couldn't ruin what they had, and make him feel terrible for her.

"Fine," he said simply.

Bella looked up from her hands, and smiled at Edward.

"If you won't tell me your secret reason for coming to Forks, I won't tell you mine. And believe me, my reason is a hundred times worse than yours," he stood up, and looked down at her funny facial expression. He knew she didn't believe he even had a reason.

"I really doubt that. Mine is pretty bad, it's sort of why I have to leave some day," Bella stood up, and was face to face with Edward.

"I have to leave here some day too. I can't stay in one place for too long, or else I'll get into trouble," Edward didn't like talking about leaving Forks. But if Bella was telling the truth about leaving, maybe one day he would see her again- just in another life time.

"Talking about leaving is depressing," Bella whispered, stepping closer to him.

"I hear you there, I don't want to ever say goodbye to you," he admitted.

Bella laughed, "I don't think we ever even introduced ourselves fully, did we?"

"No we didn't," Edward was smiling by this. Remembering the few days when he hated Bella was funny to him now. "Maybe that's good, that way strangers are always strangers, and never have to say goodbye."

Bella nodded, feeling better by this. But still, deep down in the pit of her stomach, she knew her situation, and seeing him in heaven a hundred years or so later, would be too long.

Edward was saddened by the thought of the future, and how it didn't hold Bella in it. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but that was only possible in one way…and he wasn't even allowing himself to think about that option.

* * *

The cafeteria was packed, but Bella and Edward found a table in the center with two seats for themselves. Chatter around them lowered a decibel when the duo took their seats, but started right back up again when Edward glared at the eyes that were wondering in their direction.

"What are people's problem," Bella scowled at some chick staring at her, and then turned to Edward to see he was doing the same to some dude across the cafeteria.

"We are both so different than all these wannabes. We have what they want," he said simply.

"Which is?" Bella asked.

"Us. Our relationship. We're like boyfriend and girlfriend, in their eyes at least. And they don't like that the two outsiders of the school have a place together," he shrugged.

Bella laughed in her head at this. Students were pathetic, and she was honestly glad that one day she would be done with Forks, and small town schools.

Bella grinned at a sudden idea that popped into her head. She turned to look at Edward, who looked suspiciously at her devious smile. Before Edward could question her planning that was clearly going on in her head, he was blindsided by Bella's lips, which were pressed hard down on his.

Bella didn't know what she was doing, but if the students wanted a show, and something to gossip about, she'd play into it.

She finally pulled away from Edward's surprised face, and looked around at the student body. Their eyes were wide from what they just witnessed; spunky, badass girl, kissing quirky, hotass boy. But the face with the widest eyes was sitting right next to her, and belonged to Edward.

Edward's mind was all over the place. Had Bella seriously just done that, or did his thoughts just run off in the wrong direction again?

"Let's see how they take that eh, lover boy," Bella said to Edward, but continued to stare back at the student body population.

"I took it very well. I don't know about you, but I knew our first kiss would be something like that," Edward said.

Bella smashed him the ribs, and stood up from her seat.

"Come on BF, we've got things to do, places to see, and reputations to build," Bella smiled.

Edward shook his head in disbelief at his conniving friend, err girlfriend, and took her hand in his.

"Sure thing GF, sounds like a date to me."

*******


	12. Laughter

**Chapter 12: Laughter**

"Dad, Edward is coming over today, since it's the weekend, and we're going down to La Push beach," Bella yelled down the stairs to her father, who was eating his breakfast in slow motion.

He didn't have any plans for that day, and nothing exciting was going on at work that needed his attention. He was just bored.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay here, and hang out with me?" He joked to Bella, who didn't even bother laughing when she walked into the kitchen. He gave a half ass smile to her, but she ignored it.

Bella still wasn't on good terms with her dad. He was being a complete ass hole lately, not letting Edward into the house- only because of one incident that Charlie witnessed a night ago.

"Is Edward going to keep his hands to himself today, or should I drive behind you guys in the cruiser?" Charlie asked Bella. This childish question got a response out of Bella.

"More like am I going to be able to keep _my_ hands to _myself_, have you seen him up close?" Bella chucked a towel into a back pack, and threw on a hoodie over her shirt.

Charlie took a sip of his coffee, unable to give a funny, yet serious response to his daughter. He wasn't sure if she was joking or not. He knew they were more than just friends, the whole town knew that, but she always down played their relationship to the "best bud" level.

"And jeez Charlie, following me is so not you. You're more of a peeping tom, with your binoculars, and zoom in camera lens. Too bad you can't see La Push from the back deck, I'd put on a real show for you," Bella threw on her backpack, stared into Charlie's glare, gave a devious smile, and walked out of the house.

Charlie held in a growl, and simply drank his coffee, staring into space.

If Bella was going to play it like that, than he could play on that level too.

* * *

"Why the fuck did we come to the beach?" Bella's jaw was wide open at the site of so many teenagers lounging on the normally deserted beach.

"It's a cloudy day, maybe the waves will be high for some fun." Edward sighed, looking around for a space to drop their stuff. But really, he had been asking that himself. He wasn't really technically allowed in La Push, but since werewolves weren't around this decade, he couldn't be caught.

Bella groaned, turning to Edward to show off the unimpressed look on her face.

"Whatever, come on," Edward grabbed Bella's arm, and tugged her along the beach until they found a couple meters of sand space to sit down on.

"Cozy," Bella said, tugging off her shirt, and revealing a camouflage sports bra, and not to mention, a huge purple scar along her rib cage.

Edward couldn't keep his eyes off it. It was a symbol of how breakable Bella was. He hated thinking of one day losing her.

Bella cocked an eyebrow at Edward, noticing his eyes lingering on her unsightly scar. "You're really making me feel normal right now," Bella said sarcastically, glaring at him when he held up him palms to her.

"I'm sorry Bella, I was just…" he didn't know what to say. He switched the topic. "Why don't you have a bathing suit on?" He ripped his shirt off, and looked up at the cloudy day, thankful that the sun wasn't out.

"I don't wear bikinis in public, they always manage to fall off around people that shouldn't be seeing me without a top on," she shrugged, stretching out her legs on the sand, contemplating whether or not to take her swim shorts off.

"I saw you in a bikini once. You were so white. I was so happy that it wasn't sunny out, I would have been blinded by the reflected light," Edward was laughing so hard before he even could finish. Bella smashed him in the ribs, and tried to pants him in front of everyone when he got up and ran to the water. She chased him down the beach though, and even managed to toss a kid out of her way, and kick a little girl's beach ball deep into the water.

"Did you seriously just do that?" Edward was smiling, and pointing to the ball that was way out in the water now.

Bella was covering her mouth to keep from laughing.

"Do what?" she was barely holding in her laughs.

Edward pulled Bella into him, and turned her to face the water. They both stared at the colourful beach ball, floating away, while the owner of said ball remained oblivious, and continued building the crappiest sand castle.

Bella laughed, and Edward pulled her into his chest tighter. He was laughing too now.

"You're hilarious."

Bella laughed. "I still don't know what you're talking about," Bella lied. The two were smiling from ear to ear. But both smiles were wiped off their faces when four visitors showed up from behind them.

"What the fuck did you do that for!?" a deep voice asked

Edward turned his body and Bella's to the unknown voice.

A tall, tanned boy, sort of good looking, sort of not, with brown hair, was glaring at them.

Bella and Edward looked at each other, and tried not to smile. Bella had to hold onto Edward tighter to keep from laughing.

"Yeah, hilarious," the short girl beside him, with black hair said.

"What did we do?" Edward managed to say between a grin, while Bella started laughing behind her hand. She couldn't get over the guys tough act, and what his buds and the girl were wearing. It was 'plaid mixed with short shorts' day or something. Bella was now pointing at the group of four, pointing out articles of clothing, and still laughing.

The group wasn't amused, and didn't say anything. They just stared, obviously angry.

The tanned guy turned to the water, and pointed out to a small piece of floating color, far out in the ocean. Dark waves taking it away.

"You see that ball? That's our volley ball, and I saw you're girlfriend kick is out there," the tanned guy yelled, turning back to Edward and Bella.

Bella stopped laughing when she realized what the tanned boy was pointing to. She looked at Edward, who was grinning, and she grinned back.

"Dude, I smashed that shit," Bella said.

Edward let out a quick laugh, covering his mouth to prevent anything more laughter, but Bella wasn't hiding hers. She was laughing, and pointing, and laughing.

The tanned boy, his two buds, and the short girl were getting annoyed. The tanned boy finally stepped forward, and pointed at Bella.

"You think you're all that because your father runs this town. Well you and your scrawny ass anin't anything to talk about," he spit on the sand in front of them.

Edward stopped laughing. He was all the sudden angry from his pathetic comment towards Bella.

He tightened his jaw, but should have been tightening his hold on Bella, who flew out of his arms, and tackled the tan boy to the ground. Bella didn't know what she was going. After throwing him to the ground, she just aimed hard for the face, and threw her fists everywhere.

The tanned boy was strong though, and simply turned over onto her, and pinned her arms beneath his knees. Before Bella could even cry out from the pain from her rib, Edward had tackled the boy off of her, and had him pinned in two seconds.

The tanned boy struggled to get out of Edward's hold, but he couldn't move an inch.

Bella got up from the sand, and stood over the tanned boy and Edward.

"Does that hurt?" Bella looked down at the tanned boy's frantic eyes, while the short girl yelled at Edward to let him go.

"Stop your whining skank face," Bella said back to the girl, "We're almost done."

"No, you're done now," a rough voice said. Bella and Edward looked up, and saw a Life Guard standing in front of them, arms crossed, and sunglasses in place.

Bella rolled her eyes at him, and than rolled her eyes at Edward, who was doing the same. She then looked down at the tanned boy, and spit near his head on the sand.

"Now I'm done," Bella said. Edward let go of the tanned boy, and went to stand near his girlfriend. "Come on Edward, let's get out of hear before he starts blowing his whistle at us."

Edward didn't laugh. He just dragged Bella out of there.

While the two packed up there stuff, Bella still laughing from the situation, Edward concentrating on not going back and finishing the tan boy, another volley ball came into their path, which of course, belonged to that same group.

Edward looked over at Bella, who in turn nodded.

Before a member of the group cold run up and grab it, Edward ran, picked up the ball, and drop kicked it into the ocean.

This time the life guard didn't miss it, and his whistle blew, followed by swearing from the group, who were headed in Bella and Edward's direction.

"Edward run!" Bella ran out of the beach, with Edward close behind, and jumped into the Volvo. Edward ripped out of the small parking lane, and saw in the rear view mirror a bunch of teenagers, kicking dirt, and throwing their hands in the air.

The only thing left to do for Edward and Bella, was laugh.

*******


	13. Low Blow

**Chapter 13: Low Blow**

A short stay at the beach was enough for Edward and Bella. They found better things to do than play in the sand, and drop kick balls into the ocean.

Edward showed Bella his brother's motorcycle. Of course, Bella insisted on test driving it, which Edward wouldn't allow. The only way Bella was getting on the bike was if he himself was driving, which finally, Bella gave in too.

Along their ride they stopped off at the park, went to their cove, and even caught the last half hour of a movie- after sneaking in of course. Edward and Bella were having a fabulous Saturday, and when the time came to end, Edward dropped Bella off at her house, said good night until later that night, and off he rode.

Inside the house, Bella glared at her father, who for some reason had a slight smile on his face. Bella ignored him though, and walked straight to her room, and started the wait for Edward to come to her roof.

Little did Bella know that Edward was making a U- turn, heading back to her place earlier than she expected. Edward realized Bella had forgotten her phone in his jacket, and he knew she would want to have it back.

Bella didn't hear Edward's motorcycle engine outside her window- her music was beyond blasted. She banged her head along to the chorus, and closed her eyes to think about the funny day events. She smiled to herself.

Outside, Edward shut off his motorcycle, and decided to walk in and hand the phone to Bella himself. He only made it to the screen door before Charlie popped out of nowhere, and opened the screen door to let himself out.

"We need to talk," Charlie said to Edward, putting his hand on the boys shoulder, and turning him to walk down driveway, a few meters away from the house.

Edward didn't know what to think about Charlie Swan wanting to chat with him, but he had a huge feeling it had to do with Bella, and how much time they had been spending together. Charlie's mind was erratic, and all over the place, not allowing Edward to get a clear read.

"You see, Edward, you've been spending a lot of time with my only daughter," Charlie began, looking up into the sky.

Edward groaned in his head, already assuming where this conversation was going.

If only Edward knew that he couldn't be more off the marker.

"Yes sir, I really like your daughter, sir," Edward said confidently.

"I know you do, which is fine. That's what I'm getting at. You two seem serious, with all the time you spend together, and I want you to know the consequences of getting into a relationship with my daughter," Charlie said.

Edward groaned in his head, but nodded politely to Charlie.

"So, you need to hear the truth, since she obviously hasn't told you," Charlie sighed, and Edward's head snapped up, with full attention. He wasn't expecting that.

"Truth? Truth about what?" Edward said. He was so confused now. He looked at Charlie's mind, watched the images of Bella lying in a hospital bed, her face blank, while nurses and doctors talked to her.

Edward froze.

"Edward, I don't know how to even say this," Charlie shook his head, and looked at the ground, "But Bella…"

Edward didn't have fear for anything before he met Bella. He was indestructible, therefore, nothing on this earth could take him off of it. But now, having met someone he cared too deeply for, and listening to Charlie now, Edward was experiencing the sickest feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was fear; not for himself, but for Bella. The same fear Charlie had. He finally understood…

"Bella is sick, Edward. Very sick," Charlie looked up into Edward's face.

Edward was shaking his head, even though what Charlie was showing him in his mind, and what he was telling him, was evidence enough of Bella's fragile state.

"Sick really isn't the word…she's dying. She has terminal Cancer," Charlie almost regretted telling Edward. From the look on Edwards face, Charlie realized now why Bella held off on telling the truth. The truth hurt too much.

Edward stood, pin straight, and silent. His mind was working over drive, processing and re-processing the information Charlie had just faxed through it.

"Bella's…going to die?" Edward finally managed to choke out. It was an obvious fact of the human life. But it was happening too soon.

Up stairs, in Charlie's house, Bella was getting overtired. She was bored with her music, and decided to open her window and crawl out onto the roof. A slow song on her ipod came on, which she wasn't feeling, so she moved lower onto the roof to get away from it.

She wasn't expecting to see Edward and her father talking in the middle of their driveway, and she defiantly wasn't expecting to find out _she_ was the main topic- no her cancer was the main topic.

"She has Cancer. She has two months to live- if that," Charlie was loading it off on Edward in huge heaps, and Edward was unable to grasp on. And he didn't have a chance to ask more questions, because that's when Bella's temper flew off the radar.

"What the fuck are you trying to do to me Charlie!" Bella screamed from the roof.

Both Charlie and Edward looked up from their positions on the driveway, not knowing what to say. Bella did the talking though.

"Go fuck yourself Charlie!" she ran up the roof, and jumped back into her window.

Bella was passed pissed, passed rational thinking, and passed second chances with Charlie. He betrayed her, told a terrible secret- a secret that wasn't his to tell. Bella angrily packed up a back pack, and stormed out the back deck.

Edward was too occupied with Charlie, and his thoughts of Bella going through Cancer, to notice her disappearing from the house. His thoughts were a jumble, and he needed more answers.

"Sorry you had to witness that-" Charlie began to say, but Edward cut him off.

"Two months- What? How long has she known!? Is there treatment?!" Edwards mouth kept pushing out questions, and Charlie stood in the driveway, and tried to answer them.

Charlie wasn't answering them fast enough for Edward, who wanted the facts quick so he could find an answer to Bella's futureless future. Charlie eventually had to stop Edward, and told him to talk to Bella- who probably needed to be alone for some time.

Edward didn't even say good bye to Charlie. He just kick started his bike, and ripped out of the driveway. He couldn't think up anything more tragic than the talk he just had with Charlie. His day started off easy, and now it was blown to pieces.

_Oh life,_ Edward thought to himself, _when will you start getting good?_

_*******_


	14. To 'Be' or not to 'Be'

**Chapter 14: To 'be' or not to 'be'?**

When tough times came around for Edward, he closed himself in, ran away, and pretended everything was normal. He couldn't do that this time- not when another life was at stake.

Edward didn't know what he was going to say to his family. He wasn't sure even why he was going to them in the first place. But maybe Carlisle had answers for his questions that he couldn't come up with to begin with, or maybe Alice could see a turn no one else did.

It was dark out when he arrived back at his house, and a few lights were on. He nearly flew inside, and didn't have to yell to Alice or Carlisle; they were already waiting for his arrival.

"Something's happened," Edward walked towards the huge windows that faced the lake, and stared across at the small house that was Bella's. A few lights were on.

"Yeah no shit, and you finally came to me for help. After all these years, looks like I am good for something," Alice said, who stopped when Carlisle gave her a look.

"Alice, Bella is going to die. Too soon. Way too soon-" Edward couldn't continue.

"It's natural, Edward. This day was going to come," Carlisle stood, and Edward flipped around to face him, clearly furious with his statement.

"Natural? You say dying at 17 is natural? From pancreatic cancer? It can't get anymore unnatural Carlisle. Can't you see!?" Edward threw his hand through his hair, and tugged on his shirt, concentrating on not ripping it.

"It's only human." Carlisle said lowly.

Edward closed his eyes, and swore every curse word he knew through his head. He didn't like how Carlisle was acting as if this was OK, and that there was nothing they could do. They had to do something, and Carlisle had to do it.

"Alice?" Edward looked over at his sister, who was sitting patiently on the sofa the whole time, legs crossed and everything.

"Edward, I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Her future has too many loop holes. I haven't been able to see yours or hers since she moved to town," Alice looked at her finger nails, and waited for Edward to explode.

He did.

"That's all you can tell me! Thank you Alice. Fuck, you're just as useless as Rosalie," Edward kicked a chair that was in front of him, crunching it into splinters.

Alice didn't even flinch. She was use to his moods, so she just rolled her eyes, and walked out of the room.

"Edward, what is it you're asking from us?" Carlisle moved closer to his son, who was now looking out across the water again.

"I don't know," Edward whispered.

"Yes you do, and so do I," Carlisle put his hand on Edward's shoulder. "You need to think hard about what you're going to do next. Ultimately, I will do anything to help you and your friend, only if it makes you happy- but only when you have given time to let this sink in."

Carlisle stepped away from his son, and began to walk out of the room.

"Edward, dying is apart of the life cycle- in the human one, that is. Give that a thought." Carlisle walked out of the room, leaving Edward to torment himself with a decision.

Edward covered his face with his hands, and felt like crying. His world was falling to pieces, but he didn't know if he should let them fall, or put them back together. He didn't want Bella to die, and he needed her. Did he love her? A human, a breakable human, who's only point of living was to die any day.

Edward knew he couldn't be without her anymore. Once her got a taste of what it was like to be happy, to live your life with someone great, he wasn't about to give it up.

But that was selfish, and he knew that. To stop someone's heart from beating, to stop a life from moving forward, wasn't right. They had to have another option; he wouldn't let it come to that…would he?

Edward looked out the window, across the lake, and stared at Bella's home. He then looked up at the stars, to the sky, and prayed to them for Bella to live their forever.

Even if the stars could listen, and even if praying extra hard could get wishes granted, the house across the lake wasn't Bella's home anymore- at least not in Bella's mind, it wasn't.

Bella was already hitch hiking her way out of town, desperately trying to get away from the pity party she knew was coming her way.

Maybe if Edward knew Bella wasn't safe and sound at home, he wouldn't be wishing for her to stay there, and instead, wishing her another way out, other than running.

***


	15. Adjustments

**Chapter 15: Adjustments**

"Dude, please, I'll give you thirty dollars if you just take me where your headed, just please," Bella flashed the guy in his truck her cash, but he just shook his head.

"I don't trust yeah," he began to pull up the passenger window, shutting Bella outside, but Bella stuck her arm between the opening to stop him.

"Trust? I don't trust you! Come on, I'm just a teenage girl for Christ sake, and look at you!" she threw her hands up in the air.

"There's a reason you're running kid, and I don't wanna be apart of it." The guy rolled up his car window, and drove off, leaving Bella stranded on the roads of Forks.

It was dark out, owls hooted, and the forest leaves shook. Everything was damp; the road, the trees, and even Bella's clothes.

Bella packed light for her trip to nowhere. Just a hoodie, her ripped jeans, and her chucks were all she wore. She carried along her backpack, with the essentials to life; cereal, music, and a diet coke.

Bella thought about saving the coke for when she ran out of money, but right at that moment, her body craved the caffeine.

She pulled her backpack in front of her, pulled out the cold coke, and cracked it open. She drank a long gulp, the fizz making her choke. She coughed into the night air, which showed her breath.

"Jesus it's cold," she whispered to herself, while chafing her hands together to create heat from the friction.

Bella wasn't sure where she was headed. She just needed out, and hitch hiking was her answer. She didn't have her bike, it was still in the shop, and stealing her dad's car was obviously dumb.

Bella rolled her eyes at the idea of running away. It was so lame, now that she thought about it. She just needed a camp out, a few days away, that was all.

She stopped walking, and stared up at the sky. The stars were hidden behind dark clouds, and the moon was barely showing.

Bella sighed, took another swig of her coke, and turned back in the direction of her house- not that she was going back there, per say. She simply needed time away from Charlie. He needed to know that what he did wasn't cool.

The road Bella walked along she knew very well. It was the same road that she had cut Edward off when she was driving her dirt bike. The road was very curvy, and never had many cars using it. Plus, it had many great trails off of it, which she knew very well- well enough to try one in the dark.

Bella jumped into the ditch, found the path she was looking for, and followed it for a good ten minutes.

The moon had unveiled itself from behind the clouds, and lit up the clear path pretty well. She didn't stumble once, get scared of the dark once, or even give up once. Bella trucked on through, until she made it to her destination- her cove.

"Fuck, what path doesn't lead here," Bella laughed to herself. She walked over to the rock that her and Edward dove off countless amounts of times, but avoided actually jumping onto it. Instead she felt the need for a good climb, and the perfect tree was right beside her, attached to an amazing tire swing.

It had been awhile since Bella had tried to tackle a good climb up the tree in her cove. She had done it before, and gotten so high, that she couldn't get back down again. But she told herself she wouldn't go so high this time.

Bella grabbed onto one of the lower branches, and found the appropriate foot holes that could keep her climbing, and not falling. She began up the tree, and really, it was too easy.

Up and up she went, higher than all the trees around her; the ground seemed miles away. Bella climbed until she felt like she could jump onto the moon, and then stopped on a sturdy branch to lye down on. Below her, the water was dark, and looked uninviting. She didn't feel like jumping in for a late night swim- or early morning one, that is.

She pulled out her iPod from her bag that was still on her back, and turned up her music to drown out the animals in the forest that seemed to be taunting her.

And for whatever reason, at that precise moment, she began to cry. It was a real cry, the kind where you didn't worry about what your face looked like, or wiping away the tears that came out from every direction.

Bella's entire body shook. She was so angry. Her mind brought up every moment she had held back an emotion, and now, she was letting it all out. If she wasn't crying so hard, feeling so terrible, and even depressed, she might have felt relieved that the weight she had been carrying was now off her back.

Bella probably wouldn't have let her emotions run free for a moment if she had of known that Edward was watching from another tree over. He was frantic watching her lay on a branch, too many meters above the water. He wanted her to get down, to go home, and be safe, but he wasn't sure how she was going to do that.

Bella eventually stopped crying. She had enough, and simply wanted nothing more than to be alone with the moon. But what she especially wanted was her cereal, which was shoved in her backpack.

She lifted her back off the branch she was lying on, and pulled her bag around in front of her. She put the straps on like she was carrying a new born; just to make sure she didn't loose the bag.

Bella took off her ipod, and chucked it into her bag, and began digging for her cereal she knew she had packed. But when she finally found it, she forgot to readjust her bag back behind herself to lean on, and instead, she leaned right off the branch, flipping over into the darkness beneath her.

***


	16. Not Letting Go

**Chapter 16: Not Letting Go.**

Edward was out of his tree the second Bella's body flipped off the branch. He heard her body crash through the leaves, but he couldn't reach her before she slammed into the water.

He dove in after her, hoping he wasn't too late.

Edward prayed she was alright from the long fall as he pulled her up out of the water. He had her on shore within no time, but she wasn't saying anything- let alone breathing.

"Bella!" he pulled off the back pack that had wrapped around her, and wiped her hair out of her face. Her lips were bluish, and her face looked translucent.

Edward instantly regretted not saving her from a hard fall, he knew he could have prevented her from being knocked out from the landing.

Edward began to give Bella CPR, and he made sure to be patient, and gentle with her frame. Edward could have screamed with frustration while working over Bella, but didn't stop working because he knew she needed to take a breath.

She did finally- after choking up a cup of lake water.

"Jesus Christ, Bella, you fucking scared me," he held her body close to his, feeling her shake.

"Fuck that hurt," Bella whispered though coughs. She could see her breath, and her hair seemed like it was a bunch of icicles.

"You're insane Bella, I know I've told you that before, but I really mean it," he held her arm when she started to get up, but he let go of her when she started pacing from the cold.

"Yeah well, at least you know now why I'm so reckless," she shook from the cold, and took off her soaking wet hoddie, which sort of helped.

Edward didn't know what to say. He had so many things to say to her, but he didn't want to make her feel bad. He knew she hated when people felt sorry for her, so he wouldn't mention anything along those lines, but he couldn't continue on like everything was the same. It just wasn't.

"You were right, you did have a pretty bad secret…it's the worst…Cancer…" He looked at Bella, who had her lips in a hard line, and simply shrugged.

"I know," Bella began to feel the emotions she had been feeling earlier on creep back onto her, but she had nothing more to lose now, so she let the tears come.

Edward didn't comfort her, or pull her close. He just looked down, and waited for her to say something.

"Edward, I have never been so happy than the last couple weeks…," she put her hands on her forehead, and rolled her eyes at how lame she sounded. She turned away from him, and looked at the moon. For some reason, there weren't any stars out. They were hidden behind dark clouds, and Bella couldn't make her usual wish.

"You know what I do every night Edward?" Bella asked.

Edward's head snapped up at his name, and he shook his head at her.

"I make the same wish on every star in the sky, until I am sure I got every one," she turned to look at him. "And that wish is for happiness, the internal kind, because that is my number one wish I want to come true…before I die."

Edward felt pity form in the pit of his stomach. He didn't want her to die, she made _him _happy…

Edward's eyebrows formed a hard line, and he began to smile when he came to a certain realization.

"Bella." He said, still thinking hard.

"What."

"I think your wish has come true…" he looked into her eyes, and he watched her process what he just said. Her eyebrows frowned like his had, but washed away when she realized the truth.

"Oh my fuck…" she said smiling. "You're so fucking right."

"I know I'm happy, and it's because of you. And you just said you have never felt happier. I think it's because of me," he smiled.

"I do. I have been happy the past couple of days, and it didn't go away after two seconds. It felt so good, and being with you was the reason for it…"

Bella dropped her hoodie on the ground, and hugged her best friend/boyfriend, crushing him tighter and tighter to her each passing minute.

He held onto her just as tight, and knew at that moment, he would never be able to let her go. Which meant he made a decision at that moment.

*******


	17. Kickass

**Chapter 17: Kickass**

"Can I take you home?" Edward let Bella go, and offered her his hand. He gave her a sly look.

Bella glared at him.

"Yeah, I'll get right on that," Bella said sarcastically. Edward dropped his hand to his side.

"You have to go back sometime…" Edward was dripping wet in his clothes, and if he were human, he knew he would be freezing his face off- which Bella probably was.

A devious smile spread across Bella's face. She didn't have to go anywhere. In fact, she was never going back now. She was going to die in a month or so anyway, so why not live on the run?

"Bella what is on your mind…" Edward was getting peeved by her casual disregard for safety, and not paying attention to her own well being. Now that he thought of it, she was even more breakable than he realized…with the cancer and all…

Edward's jaw locked, and a stern look crossed over his face. He wasn't going to think about what was killing Bella. Nothing was going to kill her if everything worked out.

"I'm thinking I might go on the run, Edward. And if you're brave enough, you should come with me." Bella shoved past Edward, and headed back down the path that she had come from.

Bella waited for Edward's rejection, and his famous temper to show itself.

Edward didn't say anything, and instead, he let his mind wander into the possibilities of going on the run with someone like Bella.

Bella continued to walk through the silence, but even though she and Edward didn't have awkward silences, this one was unbearable, so she turned to see what his face was thinking.

To her surprise, he wasn't behind her, like she thought. This scared her, and she stopped in her tracks, and looked hard back towards the cove, but only trees were in her vision.

She didn't know what to think, but she turned back down the path to get out back onto the road. But just when she turned her head to do get moving again, Edward was right in front of her, two inches from her face.

"GAH!" Bella took a swipe at Edward, which he ducked out of, and locked her wrists before she could make a run for it.

"Scare you?" Edward grinned, and looked into Bella's angry eyes.

"You're such a piss off," she tried to tug her arms out of his hands, but he wouldn't let go. She gave him a look that said 'fuck off'.

"What if I were to tell you, my secret was way worse than yours?" Edward said, watching Bella's glare change into confusion.

"You couldn't ever tell me that," Bella said, severely doubting that anything he had to hide was worse off than dying in a month.

"What if I were to show you?" He held onto Bella's wrists still, preventing her from moving away from his gaze.

"What are you getting at Edward? Nothing could be worse than a terminal disease."

"Don't be so sure Bella. What about eternal life? Living forever, stopping in time, without aging to show for it?" Edward asked.

Bella rolled her eyes, and laughed. "You're making fun of me now. That's great," she tried to tug away from him, but he wouldn't let her go. "If you don't want to go on the run with me, I don't care, just don't start making up these mind games to keep me guessing about you," Bella tried to rip out of his grasp, but Edward ignored her.

"You would never, I mean never, be able to guess my secret. But I feel like my secret, which I have never told anyone, could save your life…" He let go of her wrists, and looked down at the ground. He knew what he was doing, and he knew the consequences if things went wrong.

Bella was suddenly interested in the ramblings of Edward. She was curious to know if he was actually being serious with her. She couldn't imagine something being able to save her life…that would be…couldn't be true.

"Spit it out Edward, for Christ sake, tell me what you're thinking. I won't judge you," Bella flicked Edwards shoulder to get his attention, which he snapped his head up in response to her touch. "Well?"

Edward went for it. But instead of telling her, he showed her.

"Hold on Bella," he launched himself at her, and picked her up in his arms in half a second, and jumped into a tree in the second half. While on a branch, he threw her onto his back, and jumped higher into other trees around the forest.

Bella didn't know if she was awake. She didn't know if she had passed out, or if she was even alive. She must have died when she hit the water, and she was now in a half life, clinging to the past, and not able to move onto the future. Because she knew, humans didn't jump high into trees, or have superman strength.

Edward continued jumping higher and higher with Bella on his back. He didn't know what was going through her mind, but he felt exhilarated to have someone other than another vampire know his secret.

He came to a halt suddenly on a branch 20 meters above the ground. He didn't say anything, and waited for Bella to start breathing again.

"Edward…" her voice was shaky, and he wasn't sure now if she was the type of person who could handle knowing something life this.

"Bella, I told you my secret was worse than yours…" Edward felt like the monster he knew he was, and wanted to go and crawl into a hole. He wanted to die at that moment, and than he could be with Bella in heaven one day.

"Worse?" Bella whispered.

Edward wasn't sure if he heard her right, but his vampire hearing was usually correct. He set her down on the branch beside him, not letting go of her waist for even a second.

He stared at her widened eyes, and watched her breathing intensify.

"Edward, you're secret is kickass," she looked at him in awe, not knowing if he was some sort of super human, or ate too many vegetables as a kid.

Edward wasn't sure if he had heard Bella right. He wasn't sure if he was just hearing what he wanted to hear, and ignoring cries from Bella for him to get the fuck away from her.

But he had heard her right, and Bella was jealous of _him_.

"Dude, what are you? You're a freak of nature. Where do I sign up?" Bella was grinning from ear to ear, and all Edward could think was how much he didn't deserve such a girl.

He didn't know what to say, Bella had caught him off guard, and he was so overjoyed. Instead of verbally telling Bella how he thought, he showed her, and he grabbed her and kissed her as hard as she would let him.

"Jaysus," Bella laughed after. They were both smiling, and the internal happiness was filling up their souls.

"I'm a vampire Bella, but not the type you know from movies and books," he felt lighter after letting that off his chest, and Bella cocked an eyebrow at the word vampire.

"Dude, how'd this happen to you. You're so lucky!" she smashed him in the ribs, which he hardly felt, and than shook her head in astonishment at her boyfriend.

"Lucky. Bella, I don't get you, but maybe someday I will," he trailed off.

At the word 'someday', Bella's smile dampened, and she knew that her future didn't hold that. Her future was limited, and she knew Edward wasn't aware of the seriousness of her Cancer.

But Edward was aware of the seriousness, too aware actually, and he had every intention of making sure he and Bella experienced life together.

"Too bad I won't be able to spend too much time with your new awesomeness…" Bella trailed off, and her eyes began to fill with traitor tears.

Edward noticed, and this was when he knew that giving her an option was the right thing to do.

"But you can Bella, just say the words, and I'll make your future like mine," He still had his arms around her waist, and he noticed Bella beginning to shake.

"Bella are you cold?" he knew he should have waited until she was at home, nice and warm, to tell her about himself, but her time was running out.

"No, that's the last thing on my mind," she was smiling, and she threw her arms around him, tightening her hold on him, "Edward, I'm just excited to hear what you're offering me."

Edward grinned.

"Bella, I can change you into what I am. Just like that, and you can be good as new, and live with me forever. And then we can go on the run, do what we want, but not because time is running out, but because time is infinite." He stared into her eyes, which were filling with more and more tears.

Bella simply nodded, and Edward crushed her into his chest, holding her close.

He liked the new feeling of never having to let her go. He more than liked it.

Bella felt light, she felt free, and she felt like flying. It had been a long time since she didn't face an impending doom, and now it felt like she had been given a new light bulb for the light at the end of her tunnel.

***


	18. The End

**Chapter 18: The End**

Bella did go home. She didn't want to, but she and Edward could only stay out so late in freezing clothes. After what seemed like hours of the facts of vampires, Bella was addicted to the thought of becoming what Edward was.

When Bella walked through the door of the home she thought she was running away from, she wasn't angry on the inside. She accepted Charlie's apology, let him hug her, and went off to her room.

Why such a turn around in Bella? Easy; a simple, little word called hope. Bella was glowing now that her future was there.

* * *

A few nights later, Bella was still floating on her high. Although her health seemed to be declining, she knew help was on the way, she just had to wait a tad bit longer. Like most nights, Bella turned on her music, and blasted it. She didn't care that maybe her dad wanted sleep, or maybe the neighbours she didn't have could hear it; she was going to live her last days as a human the way she wanted- finally.

It was too bad Bella Swan didn't realize that her last days of being human were already over. And that she really only had moments left. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't have chosen an Avril Lavigne song to go out to.

Just as the chorus came around, a layer of sweat came across Bella's forehead, and blurriness clouded over her eyes. Bella couldn't react quick enough to get a window open for fresh air; her legs had already let go of her body, causing her to crash into her desk, and fall into a familiar black hole.

* * *

Her death was to be expected. But how she went, and how soon, wasn't.

Bella's cancer had taken the option of living to one hundred away from her, and replaced it with a shitty timeline of around eight months. She didn't even get to fulfill all those short lived months. With only one month left to live, it too was taken away from her, but not from what everyone was expecting.

Bella Swan died of natural causes. That's what her biopsy told the doctors and the rest of the world anyway. Even though Cancer was eating away at her cells and immune system, it was her heart that decided to stop beating- for reasons unknown.

Charlie Swan took comfort in knowing that his only daughter passed in the easiest and painless of ways. He was almost relieved in a way that his daughter wasn't like other cancer victims, strapped to a cot, sucking in liquids for their final days.

Like most funerals, Bella's was sad. It was held in Forks, which Bella would have wanted, and friends and family mourned the loss of the teenager who left the earth too soon.

But as Charlie watched the service, he wasn't thinking sad thoughts. He knew his daughter had the best couple weeks someone like her could ever have. She was lucky to have a chance to go wild, and meet someone to do it with.

Charlie glanced over to the left, and looked at the pale faces of the family across the aisle from him. Charlie knew the family, but didn't know their pale faces were a result from being a vampire. All of them sat very still in their seats, not looking away from the coffin. They all seemed depressed; all but one, who wasn't even present. Charlie looked away from the pew that Bella's boyfriend should have been sitting at, and concentrated on something better than a teenager skipping out on a funeral.

Edward couldn't go to the funeral. He couldn't come out of the attic. He couldn't even open his eyes. As soon as he heard the news, the depression kicked in, but only in a heavier form. He knew he wasn't coming out of this one, not unless Bella was coming back from the dead, which she wasn't anytime soon.

He had made his decision about what his life would be like if Bella seized to exist; he would do the same to his. If Bella managed to slip through the cracks, he would follow after, just not as gracefully as a human.

Edward knew he was headed straight for hell, but what was life when the one you loved was no longer next to you?

Life held nothing for him now that she was gone. He already had his plan, and he was going to follow through. An eternity in hell was a lot better than an eternity walking the earth without Bella.

That was it for Edward Cullen. His life was done, just like Bella's. His family knew of his sick plan, but they couldn't do anything for him now. It was his choice. If he wanted to provoke the Volturi, then that was his decision- which he did.

Just like Bella's death, his was quick and painless. He didn't see the Volturi coming, nor did he feel a thing. It was just how he thought. He was a monster, without a soul. Pain was a luxury he didn't have. To feel pain meant you were living life, and he wasn't living life anymore.

Fairy tales all have a happy ending. But Edward and Bella were not living in a fairy tale, so that was why their doom was met.

*******


	19. The Beginning

**Chapter 19: The Beginning**

Bella woke up from something- she didn't know what though.

She knew this something was major, but when she opened her eyes, she couldn't remember right away- especially being in a foreign environment.

She was somewhere pretty, which huge tall trees, standing in the middle of a dirt road. It was a forest, not one she knew, but a well nourished, and vibrant. She had never seen such nice looking trees, heard such refreshing sounds of wildlife, and running water of streams near by. Everything seemed so perfect, and absolutely wonderful.

Where was she?

Bella didn't know how she had gotten on the small dirt road, but she decided to follow it. She walked along it, enjoying the glorious sights of rabbits jumping along, and deer grazing only five felt from her. After about five minutes, the road came around a bend, and behind that bend was a piece of art- at least that's what Bella thought.

Ten feet in front of her was the most beautiful golden gate Bella had ever seen. It had so much detail; she couldn't stop looking at it. From the bottom, where blossoms intertwined with tree branches, to the top, where birds perched happily, it was magnificent.

But the most interesting detail of all was the title on the gate, top center, glowing and shimmering in the daylight that was streaming though the forest trees.

"_The Beginning'_" Bella read the title like a question, not knowing what to make of it. She read, and re-read the title again and again, hoping for something to pop into her mind.

Nothing happened.

She turned to look where she had walked down, and around the bend, the road was looked to go on for all eternity.

Bella's eyes bulged, and she turned back to the gate.

For some reason, she had an urge to get through this gate, but on the other hand, she couldn't move her feet towards it. She knew that it was her destiny to get on the other side of the gate, and everything would fall into place- but something wasn't right.

Bella couldn't move towards the gate. She couldn't take the one step to push the gate open, and have all the questions in her head about everything, answered.

The torn teenager stood in place. It could have been minutes, hours, or days, but she didn't know- their seemed to be no time in this land of the unknown. There wasn't a sun to move around in the sky, and a moon didn't pop up over the trees. It just stayed bright, and Bella stayed in place.

She finally sighed, but at the same moment when she did, another boy did behind her.

Bella moved her feet from the place she had been staring at the gate, and turned to come face to face with a tall, slightly muscular boy, with strange bronze hair.

She grinned when memories of her past came crashing down on her.

The boy grinned when he saw the girl's brilliant smile. He wasn't expecting to see her anywhere he was.

"Hey perv," Bella finally broke the silence.

Edward couldn't hold himself back anymore. He closed the space between them, and grabbed Bella, pulling her into a hug that lasted forever.

They let go of each other eventually, but the smiles on their faces showed they couldn't get enough of each other.

"Bella, I never imagined…" Edward trailed off, and looked around at his surroundings. Bella understood what he was saying. She knew he thought a place like this didn't exist for vampires- not that he looked like one anymore.

Edward's eyes were now emerald colour, and his skin wasn't as translucent. His eyes no longer had purplish bruises under them, and instead, looked bright.

Bella had changed herself. Her laugh lines were staying on her face, her brow wasn't furrowed, and her skin was glowing. Not to forget, she was also of perfect health.

"Edward, is this place what I think it is?" she turned to look at the gate, which Edward followed beside her. He nodded, and stared up at the title.

Bella no longer had the urge to stay in one place. She was able to move forward, now that she was complete.

Edward wrapped his fingers through Bella's, not intending to let her go from his grasp, and walked forward with her.

The moment the couple stepped forward, the gates automatically opened its doors.

Edward looked at Bella, and Bella stared into his gaze. They both laughed, and walked into their new future where they'd be spending all of eternity- together.

This wasn't their ending. It was their new beginning- a complete 180 from where they expected their lives to end up. Edward and Bella couldn't dream of a better way to learn the definition of internal happiness, which they both fully understood the moment they walked hand and hand through the gates.

**THE BEGINNING.**

Short story by Dani Navy.


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